JAPANESE PRINTS CLASS FEATURES ENDO PERIOD (1615-1868) ART

The Japanese Prints class taught by Meher McAruther recently showcased a group of Japanese woodblock prints by artists Hishikawa Moronobu, Suzuki Harunobu, Torii Kiyonaga, and Katsushika Hokusai, dating from the Edo period (1615-1868 CE) in the Ella Strong Denison Library at Scripps College. The images depict moments from the lives of men and women during this period, intricately depicting everything from their clothing and expressions to the realities of life during this period. 

Because of the paper’s publication schedule, we were unable to feature the exhibit prior or during its run in Denison Library, but we were lucky enough to have a photographer capture elements of the exhibit before it left, so you can see some of the displayed art here.

Denison frequently features rare and special art, including student-created and -curated work, so keep an eye out for future exhibits. You can follow Denison on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/PPHNnR, and be sure to check out the Slocum Award student book collections coming up soon.

1 IN 950: ALEX WASHBURN '15

Where are you from? I’m from a tiny hick town in northern San Diego County.
Major: I’m a self-designed Public Health and Society major, with a focus on women’s and sexual health.
What’s your favorite thing about your major? My favorite thing about my major is the conversations I get to have with other students about sex and sexuality. I love that moment when they learn something new or feel validated, and I usually get to learn something new from them too.
What is your dream job? Why? My dream job would be to own a feminist sex shop/coffee shop. There will be vibrators and lattes galore and a lot of kickass discussions about how to have good and safe sex. I’m still working on the name — hit me up if you have any suggestions.
Who is the most influential person in your life and why? She doesn’t really count as a person, but my dog Kahlua is my rock. She’s a white Labrador who’s my best friend and #1 Little Spoon.
What will you look back on most fondly about your time at Scripps after graduation? It’s hard to answer this because I’m here right now trying to make the most of it, but I think what’ll be the most meaningful is all of the little (and big) moments that I’ve shared with the people that I love.
What was your favorite or most formative class? And you work for Health Education Outreach (HEO). Can you tell me a bit about that?
One of the classes I’ve taken that I value the most is “HIV/AIDS: Science, Society, and Service” with Professor Karl Haushalter at Harvey Mudd. It combined so many disciplines together into a learning environment that taught me about HIV/AIDS, systemic inequalities, healing, healthcare, and my own role in social justice work. It was such a cool experience and I recommend it to anyone that’s willing to put in the time and effort.
As for HEO, it’s been one of the most (if not the most) important experience that I’ve had here at Scripps. Through my role as a Peer Health Educator I discovered my passion for sex education and women’s health. I’ve become a total nerd about sex and sexuality because of the education we do at HEO, and I love it. I also know more about condoms than I ever, ever thought I would.
What advice do you have for current and future Scripps students? Get out of your room. Don’t worry if you don’t get the reading done. Create the community that you’d like to see. Trust yourself. Breathe.

BREAST DENSITY : MEDICINE'S BEST KEPT SECRET

Ever heard of H.R. 3404?
Most women haven’t, and that, my friends, is the problem.
H.R. 3404, formally known as the Breast Density and Mammography Reporting Act of 2013, would require doctors to inform a patient if they have dense breast tissue and recommend supplemental screening, and would break the silence on what advocates group call breast health’s “best-kept secret.”
Despite what we are often told, one of the most well-established predictors of breast cancer risk is having what is known as dense breast tissue. About 40 percent of breasted people have dense tissue, which means that their breasts are comprised of more fibrous and connective tissue rather than fat. That percentage is higher among younger people.
Problems arise when people start getting their recommended mammograms to screen for cancer. Dense tissue and tumors both show up white on mammograms, so mammograms cannot detect tumors in denser tissue. A breast MRI or an ultrasound is required to detect tumors in dense tissue.
However, many radiologists do not inform patients that they have dense tissue or that mammograms cannot detect tumors in dense tissue. Fourteen states have laws mandating that radiologists and doctors provide patients with this information, but since there is no federal requirement, many people are left in the dark, with very few doctors and radiologists informing women of their risk.
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal in 2011, an executive with the Radiological Society of Connecticut lobbied against her state’s bill to require informing patients because “it would increase costs and anxiety without much benefit,” a view which many similar lobbyists share.
However, advocacy groups such as Are You Dense?, which was founded by a cancer survivor whose stage 3c breast cancer was not detected by a mammogram, argue that people have a right to make informed decisions about their medical treatments and exams. A study commisseioned by Are You Dense? found that 93% of the respondents said that, “if informed of their dense breast tissue would elect for additional screening as a mammogram is compromised due to dense breast tissue—missing cancer at least 40% of the time.”
Insurance companies and radiologists sometimes cite cost as another factor in providing patients with information. While breast MRIs do cost significantly more than a mammogram—$716.83 compared to $81.35, according to the American College of Radiology—a breast ultrasound costs on average less than $20 more than a mammogram.
While H.R. 3404 has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for right now, there are things those of us with breasts—and those of us who care about someone with breasts—can do to protect ourselves and those we care about.
1. Always, always, ALWAYS do your monthly self-exams. You can do them in the shower, in front of a mirror, and/or laying down in bed. Start by moving your fingers around the entire breast and armpit areas in circular motions. Do it with your arms at your side and with your arm raised above your head. In front of a mirror, make sure to check the appearance of your breasts. Note any changes in feel or appearance and get them checked out by a health care provider as soon as possible. EVERY MONTH. NO EXCEPTIONS.
2. Get regular mammograms when your doctor recommends them (usually around age 40), which can be free or at a discounted price through California’s Breast Cancer Early Detection Program. Planned Parenthood also offers some discounted breast exams and screening services.
3. Request a report from your referring doctor (Are You Dense? specifies that it should be generated by the radiologist rather than only a “form letter”).
4. If your report indicates that you have dense tissue, you can request additional screening. In some states, like Massachusetts, require insurance to cover ultrasounds if mammograms detect dense tissue, but everyone’s insurance is (unfortunately) different. There are a number of organizations that provide free or discounted breast ultrasounds though, since mammograms are a staple in breast cancer care, discounted ultrasounds can be harder to come by than mammograms.
Even though hundreds of thousands of American women will be diagnosed with cancer in 2014, many of them probably won’t be told that their dense breast tissue was a factor in a missed detection or in their increased risk of developing it. To us here at The Scripps Voice, it is unacceptable that specialists would rather spare patients the “anxiety” of having to do a second test than allow them to make their own choices and know what the radiologists are really looking at when they perform a mammogram on their bodies. We should be long past the days when some arbitrary person gets to decide whether a female-bodied person can “handle” certain information regarding their own health. Until that day comes, we will have to be our own advocates and advocates for one another.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED IN THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO BECOME AN ALLY

The last few months have given me a lot to think about as the editor of this newspaper and as someone who considers herself an ally to marginalized communities here at Scripps and beyond. My (ongoing) journey of becoming an ally has been complicated. I didn’t come to Scripps an ally, and I don’t think I was anything close to a decent one until about a year ago. As a first year, I had multiple conversations with people about how I didn’t think the SCORE CLORGS were necessary because they were exclusionary—I won’t go into that story, because I wrote a whole column about it last year. I’ll provide a link to that at the end of this article.

In this column, I want to talk about some of the things I try to do as an ally. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a perfect ally and I’m still learning, so this list isn’t intended to be comprehensive. And while I try really hard to do all of these things all of the time, I fail (which I’ll go into later). Regardless of those limitations, I thought it would be important to write this column, especially as someone who had a pretty shitty track record when it comes to allyship until fairly recently, because I know I had a lot of misconceptions about what an ally’s role is and about what I was “supposed” to do in order to support marginalized communities in their efforts for justice and social change. Also, I’d like to note that this list is numbered for the sake of flow, not for the sake of importance—all the points are equally important and carry equal weight.

(TW: This article contains some information about my experience with mental illness, specifically depression, bipolar disorder, and suicidal thoughts.)

1. It’s not about you. You are not an ally because you want to feel good about yourself. You are not an ally so you can put it on your resume. You are not an ally so you can tell someone who calls you out on racism that you go to Café con Leche meetings so they don’t know what they’re talking about. You are not an ally to fight a well-intentioned but ill-informed crusade on behalf of someone else. You are an ally because if you are not, you are actively an oppressor.

2. That said, allyship is a process. Just because you’ve decided to be an ally doesn’t mean you’re going to be perfect at it. Like everything else, you’re going to have to learn how to do it. And when you’re learning a new thing, you’re going to make mistakes. And someone will call you out on it. Which is okay. Yes, you’ve just done or said something that’s perpetuating oppressive social norms, but you’re working on it. This is one of those areas in life that only fail if you quit.

3. Getting called out is not the worst thing to ever happen to you. When I got to Scripps, I was progressive enough to know that being racist was bad. If someone said you were being racist or marginalizing someone, that was really, really bad, and I when I would get called out, I would often get either really embarrassed (if I agreed with the person calling me out) or offended (if I didn’t). One misconception that I had about allyship was that it meant never, ever being racist, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, ableist, classist, ageist, and so on, which is totally impossible. We all agree that society perpetuates some pretty awful stuff, so chances are you’ve internalized some stuff that’s problematic and harmful to you and to others. Especially when you’re first starting out, there’s going to be a lot you don’t know. Getting called out is an opportunity for you to learn how to be a better ally. In order for this to work, though, you have to be willing to think critically about your behavior—whatever you just got called out for, as well as past and present behavior. You’re making progress as an ally when you make better choices after getting called out. Allies who are willing to get called out and improve their behavior are really important. 

4. Don’t wait until someone calls you out to adjust your behavior. While the calling-out process is important and should be taken seriously, you cannot and should not assume that people are always going to want to call you out. We all have a lot of stuff on our minds and our schedules, and calling someone out can be exhausting and annoying, especially when we have to do it all the time. Moreover, people might be triggered by what you say—I didn’t really understand this until I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder last semester. I was really, really depressed for quite a while, to the point of having thoughts of killing myself. Hearing people say insensitive and derogatory things offhand about depression, bipolar disorder, and suicide can be triggering for me if I’m having a low day. What you say could be so hurtful that it will trigger deeper depression, which leaves me to pick up the pieces. In those situations, I’m hardly in the mood to call you out. I’ve come to understand how important it is to do a couple of things to make sure I don’t do the same thing to other people. They are…

5. Educate yourself. This is one of your primary jobs as an ally. I cannot stress this enough. A big part of social justice and activist movements is education. There is infinite information about all these topics all over the library and internet. Do your research. Figure out who the prominent writers and speakers on these topics are. Read and listen to their stuff. Take more than one class on these topics if you can. It’s really easy to incorporate ally work into your everyday routine. You probably already spend a bunch of time on social media, so use that to do some work. Read the links your friends post about these topics. There’s tons of great blogs on Tumblr that you can follow—there’s everything from really long posts to gifs and graphics that are informational. Don’t forget that, even though I’m referring to marginalized groups as a singular force, and even though groups often do common work, they are not a monolith in their ideas or practices. Ideas and opinions are individualistic, and communities are frequently critiquing themselves in their work. Remember, too, that learning about these things is not an academic exercise, and it doesn’t pass for lived experiences in these areas. 

6. Listen, and speak up when you have to. This is another really, really important thing about being an ally. Part of allyship is using your privilege to advocate for people when their voices are silent. I’m a person with a ton of privilege, so when, for example, I’m in a room full of other privileged people and no representation for marginalized communities, or where marginalized people in attendance are explicitly and implicitly silenced, it’s my job to speak up and advocate for their right to be heard. But it is NOT my job to speak over someone. So if, say, transwomen are being shut out of a conversation, I need to speak up and advocate for their inclusion. But if there’s a transwoman in the room, I sure as hell better let her speak and dictate how issues that affect her are going to be addressed. I’m doing nothing if I’m advocating for someone’s inclusion but silencing them in the process.

7. Marginalized people get to decide how to do their work. This was a huge lesson for me as someone who was against the SCORE CLORGS my freshman year. What I came to realize is that when I would say things against them, I was basically saying that I, a white woman, should get to decide whether Wanawake Weusi is good for black women. It sounds pretty dumb when I put it that way, huh? So this means that allies don’t get to dictate how things get done, and they probably shouldn’t propose solutions to problems that arise. They need to listen to what communities are advocating for, and then join them in fighting for those solutions. The difference is between saying to a marginalized person “Why don’t you do x?” or “You could do x so that y.” and saying “How can I help you reach the goals of your CLORG/organization/movement? What can I do?” Only offer suggestions when asked, or if you have knowledge of some administrative or logistical process the group is trying to navigate (and if they’re advocating against that process, work to help them change it). I’m someone who loves being a leader and finding solutions to problems, so this is one I especially struggle with. But the best thing a leader can do is ask how they can be a better ally, not make decisions about what should happen on their own.

8. Recognize your limitations. This summer, I worked at a summer camp for black kids of all socioeconomic classes in the greater D.C. area. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done—the kids were brilliant, but I really struggled to work with them. That experience made me realize, first, that I still have a lot of internalized stuff I need to work through, and second, that I am not a person who should be in front of a classroom of black kids. It was a hard thing to come to terms with as someone who considers herself an okay ally at a place that, for the most part, advocates for its students to do work like this (e.g. applying to Teach for America). From that experience I realized that there are better ways to use my privilege to help people, and I’m still trying to decide how best to do that. Using the newspaper as a tool of allyship has, I think, been a better use of my privilege, because I’m providing a platform for members of marginalized communities and working to make the paper a safe space for them, but I’m not using the paper to tell them what to do (I hope).

9. Know that your intentions are usually irrelevant. If you’ve said or done something that is hurtful or marginalizing, the worst thing you can do is try to defend yourself. This forces the person you’re talking to not only put in the hard work of calling you out, but also of arguing about a topic that is deeply related to their personal, lived experiences, when it’s not related to yours. This is important especially when your intentions are good—you’re not a bad person, you just need to adjust your intentions. In my experience, one of the best things you can do is apologize, and, if you’re confused, see if the person is willing to explain why what you said is problematic. If they’re not, consult someone else who you know is willing, or use your plethora of text and media resources to figure out what went wrong.

10. Make spaces safe. Always assume there’s someone in the room who could be hurt or seriously triggered by what you say and do. Some people are very private about what goes on in their lives, so anything that could be hurtful should never be said. Period. Even if the person you’re talking to knows what you mean, someone listening to you might not and they could be seriously hurt or triggered. Someone should feel equally safe in SCORE, in the Field House, in their room, in the dining hall, and in the Motley. Everyone in every single one of those spaces should be an ally working to make those spaces safe and also working to support the work that people are trying to do. Remember, it’s important to educate yourself and make sure you’re supporting people, rather than deciding how to make a space safe without any word from the groups in question.

11. You don’t get to decide when you’re going to be an ally. It might not always be cool, advantageous, or easy to be an ally. Because you’re supporting people that society works to actively oppress, marginalize, and silence, your work will not be easy, especially when you have to go to bat for these communities (remember number 6). But as a person of privilege, you do not get to decide when you’re going to speak up. There will be backlash. People will say you’re wrong to do what you’re doing. People will say you’re a killjoy or that you need to pick your battles when you challenge them every time they say something shitty—when people tell me I need to pick my battles, I like to say, “Okay. I pick all of them.” Not everyone will like you. There is no halfway when you’re an ally. And, by the way, if your friends aren’t supporting you in your allyship, you need to ditch them. They’re going to suck your energy away from the work you’re doing. 

12. Guilt is the worst response ever. Do not feel guilty when you mess up. Do not. It’s a waste of your energy to feel bad about what you’ve said or done that’s not good. Absolutely be reflective about what you say and do, and let that reflection guide your decisions in the future. But do not feel guilty. It detracts from your energy to do your ally work—if anything, let your mistakes inspire you to work harder.

13. Take care of yourself and each other. I’ll be the first to admit that allyship is difficult. Remember when I said allyship isn’t about you? Well, you also need to take care of yourself—you can’t help anyone if you’re a wreck. There will be times you need to feel bad about something that happened. There will be times you need to vent about the difficulties with being an ally. But don’t rely on the communities that you’re allying to deal with your issues—that’s detracting from the work they’re doing, when it’s your job to support it. While ally training is often something groups dedicate time to, it’s often one very small part of the work they do. Help them with that work by helping each other.

14. Don’t get discouraged. As you learn about the issues that are out there that groups are trying to fight, you’re going to feel like literally everything is a problem and there is no hope for society. My parents worry a lot that I’m only feeding my depression by thinking so much about all the wrongs out there. But the truth is, you have to have an almost stupid amount of optimism to do this work. You have to sincerely believe that the work you’re doing is going to affect change, even when you don’t see that change occurring. Remember that social justice groups don’t just sit around making lists of all their problems—they almost always propose concrete solutions to the problems they identify. Keep those solutions at the forefront of your mind, and you won’t feel so overwhelmed.

I know this has been intense, and if you’re just beginning your journey as an ally, it can all seem really daunting. But making this transition is the same as any other you have to make in your life—it gets easier the more you do it. If you want to learn a little more about my journey from non-ally to ally, you can find that story here: http://goo.gl/yz7sDI. I wrote this in response to an article that a CMC student wrote last year about why she disagrees with the existence of women’s colleges.

TWO OF FOUR DOS/VSPA CANDIDATES VISIT SCRIPPS COLLEGE CAMPUS

Kandy Salas and Denise Hayes, finalists for the Dean of Students/Vice President of Student Affairs position at Scripps, met with students and senior staff recently to talk about their experiences and what they would plan to do as a Dean and senior administrator at Scripps. Here is a quick and easy summary of their qualifications, goals, and responses to student questions

Kandy Salas

Her background: Salas is currently a lecturer at California State University, Fullerton, where she has worked for 24 years, first as the Officer of Student Life and eventually working her way up to the Dean of Students and the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs. She is a first generation college student who earned her bachelor’s in English and minor in women’s studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, her master’s in counseling and human development with a specialization in student personnel services at Minnesota State University, Moorhead, and her Ph.D. in education from Claremont Graduate University. Salas has varied experience working with student leaders and student clubs and organizations, as well as running student orientations and working with undocumented students. She also has experience working with advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, from Title IX work to work in first-responder situations.

Her goals as DOS/VPSA:

Salas said that she received consistent advice from the senior staff when she met with them. She gathered, she said, that the team is still healing from Dean Bekki Lee’s passing and that working with the senior officers as a group will be particularly important.

She also said that she felt that Scripps is in transition as it attempts to realize its goals at diversity and inclusivity. She said that she wants Scripps to go beyond merely diversity, but to push for cultural competence, which deals with issues of inclusion to work on big picture diversity on campus. She said that it cannot only be groups and people who are historically “new” to college campuses who are having these conversations—it must constantly be a campus-wide discussion. She said that reaching a critical mass is only the beginning, and after that is when the difficult work begins. She said, however, that she is passionate about and dedicated to this work.

She also said that part of her work as Scripps’ DOS/VPSA would include getting to know students very well, particularly student leaders. She said that when issues arose, she wanted to help students learn how to address problems that arise, rather than merely solving problems on their behalf.

Her responses to student questions:

Students’ questions at the evening event on March 26 ranged from her working styles to the direction she’d like to take with the department if hired. She said that when it comes to her colleagues, she feels she works best with people who are willing to listen and compromise. Regarding students, she said that she is first and foremost an educator, so her ultimate goal is to make sure that students are learning, but that she also feels it’s important for students’ ideas to be heard and implemented. When it comes to heated and difficult discussions, she said she’s learned to have those conversations but be able to walk away and feel peace about the exchange.

Salas followed up on students’ questions with a question of her own, asking students for advice regarding what they would like to see on campus. Students said that the senior staff and the DOS/SARLO offices could be more cohesive, and that it would be important for the department to work with students and put students’ concerns and needs ahead of bureaucratic concerns. They also said that concerns need to be addressed with concrete and transparent action—that students should always know what action is being taken and how it is being implemented. Students also said that DOS should be proactive about inserting itself into spaces other than its own office to increase transparency and availability to students.

Denise Hayes

Her background:

Hayes has worked for the Claremont University Consortium (CUC) as its director of student health and counseling for nine years. She is a counseling psychologist who has also done work in organizational communications and leadership and management, which made her well-suited for a director position at CUC. She is currently teaching a course at CGU; Hayes said she felt compelled to get back into the classroom and to apply for the DOS/VPSA position at Scripps because she misses working with students directly. Hayes said she applied to work at Scripps because her older sister and daughter both attended women’s colleges, and that they gained so much confidence during their years there.

Hayes has also written scholarship and done work on women’s leadership, and black women’s leadership in particular. Her dissertation was on single mothers that are currently in schools; Hayes herself was a divorced mother with young children when she went back for her master’s degree. She worked to apply existing theories regarding leadership to the experiences of black women who are leaders in higher education. For example, some theories suggest that success does not come from hard work alone, but comes from willingness to take risks, from the ability to energize oneself during stressful and trying times, and from developing relationships with mentors and superiors who will put their credibility on the line to put in a word for you. She said that these theories are often applied across the board, but that African American women had never been asked about whether it applies to them. Her interest and research with women’s professional development and leadership informed her choice to apply to work at Scripps.

Her goals as DOS/VPSA:

Hayes said that a goal for her as DOS/VSPA would be to strengthen the community between faculty affairs and student affairs to create a stronger community to better support students. She also said that she thinks student affairs play a bigger role in leadership development, diversity discussion, mentoring and coaching, and programming, rather than only a space to go during crises. She said that she understood that Dean Lee, who passed away suddenly last fall, was getting a strategic plan started, and that Nathalie Rachlin, interim vice president of student affairs, is continuing that work, and that she, Hayes, hopes to solidify a plan. She said such a plan would create a consistent message coming from student affairs that it was a place that was very student-oriented, and that the student affairs staff could become closer to students, in such away, said Hayes, that they could provide references and career- and life-related mentoring.

Hayes said that though much of her research has focused on African American women, as a DOS she would be there for all women at Scripps.

Her responses to student questions:

Hayes said that in her interactions with students at the CUC, her style is to give students whatever facts she can disclose about a situation, and to share whatever realities (e.g. regarding the budget or other processes) candidly with students so that it’s always very clear where she’s coming from. For example, she said, some people have asked her whether she would look into hiring a counselor who would work exclusively at Scripps to supplement mental health care available at Monsour. She responded that if something is added to the budget, something else has to be taken away, and that would have to be worked out accordingly.

In response to a question about her working style, she said she prefers working with relationship-oriented people who are open to transparent conversation, but acknowledged that every office needs detail-oriented, “number crunching” people.

When asked how long she planned to stay at Scripps, she said probably five to seven years, or until she retires.

When a student asked to know more about her prospective direction for the office, Hayes reiterated that she wants to strengthen the relationship between academic affairs and student affairs. She said that faculty are often the most valued, respected members of an institution because they are so close to students—in the way doctors are the most respected people at a hospital, Hayes said. But she wants her staff to also feel valued, and be able to better articulate how helpful they are to students in order to expand students’ perceptions of what a student affairs office is and what it can offer. Hayes said she also wants to build her staff’s ability to support each other, and to develop a strategic plan with a clearer direction and work on branding the student affairs office as a place that can support students in a broader way.

Hayes said, that in a perfect world in which she had unlimited funds, she would love to create a living-learning environment, perhaps incorporating faculty into the existing language halls, but also create themed housing if locations became available. Realistically, she said, she would focus on ensuring that existing technology is up to date, and figure out what resources could be reallocated elsewhere. She said that ultimately, her goal would be to make Scripps’ student affairs to be somewhere other colleges would look up to.

She also added that she understood that Dean Lee’s open hours were well received by students, and would likely seek to continue such a program. Furthermore, she emphasized that everyone’s voices need to be heard, noting that faculty sometimes have a liberty of speech that administrators do not, and that students who don’t feel as strongly about diversity also need a place to talk about it. Hayes emphasized that she wanted to be proactive so that things would never get to the point where students have to protest, even though student protest can be very healthy.

A student noted that student affairs staff often wear many hats and can’t always address students’ needs adequately because of their myriad duties, and queried how Hayes would address this problem. Hayes responded that she would work on strategic planning and prioritize by identifying DOS/SA’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). Based on what she’d seen, she suggested that the office’s strong point was its commitment to students and student affairs, while a present weakness was the instability of transitions in leadership. She felt that a big opportunity was that to strengthen the relationship between academic and student affairs. A threat, she said, was the problem of sexual assault on the campuses affects Scripps disproportionately. She also noted that the rising cost of education is a threat, and hopes that increasing Scripps’ endowment will enable more students to come to Scripps.

Hayes said the first thing she would do if hired was to get to know her staff, and then hold open forums to get to know students, and would answer whatever questions she knew the answers to. She would also hope to spend very little time in her office, instead meeting with groups around campus, eating in Malott, getting to know SAS, and attending any student meetings she’s invited to. She also envisions hosting get-togethers with students at the DOS house if she is chosen for the position.

Hayes was also asked about her hobbies outside of her work in student affairs, and she mentioned a love for pilates, walking, and trying new things (she recently went kayaking for the first time, tried introductory ballet, and braved a fear of roller coasters).

Students also asked what she thought it meant for a women’s college to honor all expressions of femininity. In order to answer such a question, the college needs to think critically about its identity and its history and legacy as a women’s college, including, perhaps, honoring the philosophy of single-gender education, she replied.

A student asked whether transwomen ought to be included in what it means to honor all expressions of femininity at Scripps. Hayes said that she wasn’t sure and didn’t want to make a decision on her own, and reiterated her point that answering such a question would require conversations about Scripps’ identity and mission as a women’s college, and how a women’s college should determine what is a woman and what is female.

Responding to a question about whether she thought there are additional difficulties when working at a women’s college versus a coed school, Hayes said that she couldn’t think of any. She said there are differences and similarities between the two types of institutions, but that there aren’t any difficulties inherent in working at a women’s college.

She also noted that, when it comes to implementing new policy or programs, the need should come from students, rather than from the top down. She stated that she intends to provide training and professional development for her staff so that students will feel safe around all of them. Administrators need to be available, because it is better for students to come to the administrators with concerns, so that students can bring their issues forward and the administration does not have to go to students wondering if something is a problem. She also emphasized that diversity should not be only a topic of generic discussion—for example, not merely having a forum of which diversity is the focus, but making it a part of her conversations with students consistently.

Finalists’ resumes can be viewed on the Scripps portal under the “Student” tab on the far right side of the page. 

THE SCRIPPS VOICE TO INCORPORATE BROADCAST PRODUCTIONS, SUBMIT TO CSPA

The Scripps Voice is excited to announce that we will be the first Claremont publication to incorporate video blogs (“vlogs”) and broadcast news into our regular content in print and online.
Led by our new video producer, Laurel Schwartz ‘15, we will feature regular vlog contributors and coverage of other news events. We are currently searching for regular vloggers and anyone interested in working with us on this new endeavor are welcome to apply. Application information can be found on our website.
We are also thrilled to announce that we will be submitting our publication to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for the upcoming school year. Submitting to CSPA will will solidify Scripps’ reputation as a competitive liberal arts college, and will showcase the work of all The Scripps Voice’s writers, photographers, editors, managers, and, now, video producers on a national level. The submission deadline comes in the summer, so we will have updates on that front more next fall.
As always, we continue to recruit new writers and photographers. We are frequently asked if we accept guest columns or articles; we are always open to articles, columns, letters-to-the-editor, photos, and artwork from anyone in the Scripps community. While we do print anonymous pieces, we (the editors-in-chief) do need to know who the author is. We will keep anyone’s identity a secret in print, but the only way we can advocate for and stand behind our paper is if we can verify the content that goes into it. Please let us know if you have any concerns or questions.
We accept staff contributor (writer, photographer, vlogger, etc.) applications from all 5Cs.
As always, our website is voice.scrippscollege.edu, and we can be reached by email at .

A LETTER FROM LORI BETTISON-VARGA

To the Scripps College Community:
I took the opportunity to listen and speak at the February 27th BeHeard Forum held at SCORE.
Some students do not agree with the decision I made regarding the LASPA Center director search. As the College president I must and do live with that, and I believe questioning about this search decision provides a learning moment for students about the College’s decision-making process. At the same time, I believe that members of the community who speak out against college decisions are impassioned, care deeply about Scripps and are working to make Scripps a better community.
I bring diversity of thought, background and experience to my decision-making process.  My senior team and I are committed to making this community a more diverse and inclusive environment.  We welcome input and feedback, especially when it is offered in a respectful spirit of collaboration and investment in the good of the College, and when it is based on accurately informed positions.
My commitment is, and always has been, to listen to and understand student, faculty, staff, and alumnae perspectives. There may be times when your input influences a presidential decision in the direction you desire. There may be times when your ideas alter or reverse a college decision. And there certainly will be times when even the most heartfelt and accurately informed opinions will not change a decision that falls in my purview to make.  
I believe that the SAS BeHeard Forum reflects a hallmark of what the Scripps College community is—a community. This College unites us as individuals and groups. We all have chosen the same place to invest ourselves and to pursue academic, professional, and personal goals and dreams, and that truly does link and unite us. The kinds of issues raised at the BeHeard Forum exemplify that our community works, because whether or not we agree on all issues, we come together to learn, share, understand, and listen.
I look forward to continuing positive and productive conversations in which all of us can join together to advance our collective fulfillment of the College’s mission.

Sincerely,
Lori Bettison-Varga

WHY I WANT MORE FOR SCRIPPS COLLEGE

By Meghan Gallagher '15
Guest Contributor

I love this school. I am grateful everyday that I am privileged enough to live here and to learn here. I am continually inspired by incredible Scripps women who challenge my beliefs and broaden my horizons. Scripps has undoubtedly shaped my identity (both in and out of the classroom) and for that I will be forever thankful.
When I heard news of The Campaign for Scripps College and how it boldly states that “We Want More,” I was ecstatic. I do want more for Scripps, and that’s not something I am ashamed of. Ambition is not a bad thing. Progress is not a bad thing. All too often women and girls are conditioned to self-sacrifice and put aside their own needs for the needs of others. We are taught that part of being “good” and gracious means accepting what we are given and being satisfied, settling for what other people are willing to give instead of fighting for what we want. This campaign slogan is bold and maybe a little bit obnoxious, but clearly we need a push. For those feeling guilty about the college’s request for progress, I ask if the same kind of backlash would be occurring at a coed school? To me, this discomfort surrounding ambition is a distinctly gendered phenomenon and one that students should be questioning. Wanting more opportunity, justice, innovation, and knowledge for my school and myself does not mean that I care any less about global literacy or accurate representation for Native Americans. In fact, I would argue that my Scripps education makes me distinctly more qualified to tackle these issues.
I am a firm believer that you can’t help anybody until you first help yourself. I plan on doing incredible things with my life. I plan on changing the world and I believe I can make a difference. I also believe that this change needs to start at home, where we are socialized and educated. We need to combat this notion that as women of a women’s institution, we must settle for less than our male-dominated counterparts. What kind of world would we live in if no one demanded justice? Or if no one fought for opportunity and knowledge? We can’t just hide in our courtyard gardens lamenting the state of the world, we need to actively and aggressively combat injustice, and I think that starts with the radical notion of wanting (and asking for) more. So I ask my fellow Scripps students to question why they feel so uneasy and outraged by this new campaign and to challenge patriarchal ideas about what we as women do and do not deserve. I think that we deserve progress, and I am not afraid to ask for it.

AN OPEN LETTER TO SCRIPPS COLLEGE'S RESLIFE OFFICES

 

By Anna Marburger, Guest Contributor

An open letter to:

Samuel Haynes, Acting Dean of Students

Victoria Verlezza, Hall Director/SCORE Program Coordinator

Jill Langan, Hall Director

Kim Hamon, Hall Director

[note: this was drafted several days before Thursday, the day of the event.  Thus, the event is referenced in future tense and there are allusions to new posters that I had thought were going to be mounted, but the good will I express towards changing the method of publicity is still the same.]

            This letter is in response to an e-mail sent to Frankel residents this past Monday, copied below.  Just as this e-mail may be triggering, so too is the letter I have written:

“Trigger warning: Please note that this email contains information regarding sexual assault.



Dear Scripps Residents,

We hope this email finds you well. It has come to our attention that recent advertisements for events and passive programming pertaining to sexual assault, utilizing the words rape, sexual assault, etc., have been defaced in order to prevent triggering others. While we are sensitive to and respect the needs of our students, we want to make sure we are upholding and abiding by Scripps College's posting policies. Advertisements serve as a space to educate students on various issues and campus climate. We strive to be conscientious of our postings on campus.

If you are feeling particularly triggered by any passive education, flyer, or poster, or find the language used in said advertising offensive, we encourage you to reach out to the fmi contact, required at the bottom of each advertisement. In addition, the Residential Life staff is committed to supporting all students, and would be happy to speak with you regarding any issues you may be personally experiencing.

Lastly, we will continue to uphold and enforce the posting policies, as outlined in the Guide to Student Life (p. 45, Section 4.02), particularly the defacement of approved advertisements, posters, and educational flyers. Any and all postings must be stamped with approval by a representative of Residential Life or SARLO to be displayed within the residence hall communities.

Please feel free to contact your Hall Director or Resident Advisor with any questions or concerns.”

            I am so grateful that ResLife takes an interest in spreading awareness of sexual assault.  I support the “It Was Rape” documentary screening event.  I was also immensely relieved that the initial promotional posters were removed.  Additionally, I usually respect Scripps’ various policies.  I write this letter, however, to register my dismay and strong disagreement with the notions underlying March 3’s e-mail, which clearly prioritized that policy and that method of promoting the event over the interests of survivors of sexual assault.  I also want to be clear:  I am one of the students who placed the “trigger warning” sign on the poster.  I believe this was the right course of action in what I perceived as an exigent need, not something to await the delay of extended debate and discussion.

The poster this letter discusses is the one that displayed “IT WAS RAPE” in enormous letters, to the point where that sentence alone was extremely difficult to miss when one rounded the corner in Frankel/Routt.  Any context that could explain that “It Was Rape” is the title of a documentary was, in all likelihood, noticed (if at all) after the passersby saw the gigantic “IT WAS RAPE.”  Therefore, this poster posed an immediate threat to the mental and emotional well-being of any Frankel/Routt hall residents or passersby who have experienced sexual assault (and any residents of any other residence halls those big posters appeared in who are also survivors).  For that reason, immediately placing a “trigger warning” sign directly over the words “IT WAS RAPE” (and no other portion of the poster), was justified.  In this very unusual instance, Scripps’ policy would have caused harm instead of good.

Of course ResLife cares about students.  But I want to explain my motivations for making the “trigger warning” signs very clear, so this is a very long letter.  I apologize for any language that appears condescending—I am trying to explain each and every reason behind my actions, as well as my objections to the March 3 e-mail.

When triggered, survivors may exhibit any number of symptoms.  They might experience a panic attack.  They might hyperventilate and experience feelings of unbearable anxiety.   Confusion and/or disassociation are also common symptoms.   Flashbacks can occur.  “Many survivors re-experience the sexual abuse as if it were occurring at that moment, usually accompanied by visual images of the abuse” states the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN).   Being triggered is part of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Survivors are six times more likely to suffer from PTSD.  Some symptoms might not be visible to other people, or perhaps they can appear later that day, long after the trigger was spotted.  Other times, the survivor shows immediate and visible signs of distress.  Regardless of what you as a casual observer might see, the survivor has been placed in a nightmare. 

A lot of survivors might have seemingly innocuous triggers that people can’t easily predict or control, like the image of a sports car or the smell of Lysol.  “IT WAS RAPE” was no subtle, hard-to-predict trigger.  Some obvious triggers are depictions/details of an assault.  “IT WAS RAPE” is not one of those.  Other obvious triggers, however, can also be other statements/words that might predictably compel a survivor to immediately and directly think about what happened to them.  The word “rape” alone can be a very triggering word.  “It was rape,” even without giant, capital letters, is a risky sentence.  It is not a calming, neutral statement.  It was especially jarring that “IT WAS RAPE” was very eye-catching, one of the first things seen before the context on the poster explaining the event on campus.  Therefore, this poster had a very high probability of triggering a survivor.  For that reason, once those posters were put up, protecting survivors was reasonable if not mandatory, so long as it showed no disrespect to the ResLife event itself.

According to RAINN, “1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime.”  One in 33 men has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in his lifetime.  RAINN does not have any statistics for non-binary people, but obviously the occurrence of attempted or completed sexual assault is probably high for them.  RAINN also has an entire section of their website dedicated to sexual assault on college campuses.  Sexual assaults are more likely to occur there over the course of one’s college career, particularly if one is a woman.  People of various genders live at Scripps, but most of them are women.  Therefore, it is very probable that multiple survivors live in Frankel or Routt and were at risk of witnessing the “IT WAS RAPE” posters and being reminded of one of the worst, most traumatic events to ever happen to them.  Every minute that sign was up without a warning, mental and emotional calm was seriously at stake.

Among the passages in the March 3 e-mail to which I object: “If you are feeling particularly triggered by any passive education, flyer, or poster, […] we encourage you to reach out to the fmi contact, required at the bottom of each advertisement.”  First of all, “IT WAS RAPE” is not a passive statement at all.  It is in-your-face provocative. 

Secondly, if a survivor of sexual assault has been triggered by an obviously inflammatory statement blasted at them in the place where they live? That is too late.  Inviting the survivor to reach out to the FMI contact hardly solves the problem.  The problem, which was easy to predict, has already occurred in that case.

Instead, ResLife should take reasonable preventative measures.  This concern over predicting triggers is very different from ResLife mounting a poster that says, for example, “FREE COOKIES.” That would not be an obvious trigger at all.  The statement “IT WAS RAPE” should not have been there in the first place.  ResLife should always consider any easily predictable psychological responses survivors might have to posters beforeResLife decides to mount them in public. 

ResLife should not wait for someone to suffer an episode.  Accordingly, any immediate response from fellow students to protect survivors from re-living trauma, such as taping signs that say “trigger warning” directly over “IT WAS RAPE” (not the other words on the poster) was the safer option.  In fact, this was a far safer idea than, as the March 3 e-mail suggests, waiting for a survivor to report their feelings to ResLife. 

In spite of ResLife’s attempts to appear available and open for such communication, it is extremely difficult for survivors of sexual assault to find the courage to tell themselves or loved ones, let alone a well-meaning stranger about such a traumatic event.  The e-mail also says students who are offended should speak to ResLife.  Being offended is not the same as recognizing a very obvious trigger.

Never mind if a survivor feels “particularly triggered,” as the e-mail says; if a current Frankel/Routt feels triggered at all in the place where they live because a poster has an obvious trigger, that poster should be immediately removed or altered.  In this extreme case, it is not ideal to wait to talk to a hall director or the acting dean of students about the poster.  This is not about disagreement with a poster’s content.  This is about protecting people from the clear, immediate, present danger of re-experiencing trauma.  It is statistically likely that multiple people live in these residence halls.  They deserve to feel calm and safe.

As hall directors, as Scripps staff, and as compassionate human beings, of course ResLife cares about the mental and emotional well-being of Scripps residents.  ResLife is right to host events that promote awareness of sexual assault.  I ardently applaud these efforts.  However, their methods of promoting this event were dangerous and showed no regard for obvious triggers to survivors.  “IT WAS RAPE” in giant letters hypocritically sacrificed survivors’ interests in the hopes of publicizing an event about sexual assault awareness.  ResLife was right to take the posters down and apologize. 

However, the March 3 e-mail has bewildering priorities.  “It has come to our attention that recent advertisements for events and passive programming pertaining to sexual assault, utilizing the words rape, sexual assault, etc., have been defaced in order to prevent triggering others.  While we are sensitive to and respect the needs of our students, we want to make sure we are upholding and abiding by Scripps College's posting policies.”  I disagree.  This “IT WAS RAPE” situation, this specific situation, was more important than Scripps policy.  This was about preventing the very likely chance of a human being from a harmful psychological episode.  ResLife should have made a better effort to be “sensitive to and respect the needs” of Scripps students.  In most other instances, ResLife would be right to invoke Scripps policy concerning promotional material, and I would support them.  Students should abide by Section 4.02 in most other circumstances.  This “IT WAS RAPE” situation is the exception.  Preventing obvious triggers and thereby protecting the mental and emotional health of Scripps students should be top priority at all times, not policy (even though 4.02 is an otherwise reasonable and just policy, I think).  Placing a “trigger warning” sign over “IT WAS RAPE” was not defacement.  It was the right thing to do.

Furthermore, the method used in Frankel/Routt to label the event poster was a respectful one.  The “trigger warning” sign functioned like a giant post-it note, basically, with the top of the two 8x11-inch papers secured with painter’s tape, and the bottoms of these papers left uninhibited.  Gravity made this “trigger warning” sign function like a curtain.  In this way, survivors were warned of the risk and protected from it, but anyone could gently peek underneath the “trigger warning” sign to read the words “IT WAS RAPE.”  This did not censor the event.  This did not say anything critical or obscene about the event.  This did not cover the other information about the event, which was not likely to be triggering and therefore probably harmless.  If the “trigger warning” sign had been placed above the poster instead of over the letters, it would have been basically useless.The most eye-catching part of the big poster would still have been the very harmful “IT WAS RAPE.”  The placement of the “trigger warning” sign was a necessary and simple solution to the problem, other than the obvious option of making a safer promotional poster altogether.

Clearly, ResLife had very good intentions and wanted to make an informative poster, especially since “It Was Rape” is the name of the documentary.  I know new promotional materials will be mounted soon, and I look forward to seeing them, but in retrospect, alternatives were possible.  The following do not use the phrase “IT WAS RAPE” in huge, hard-to-miss letters, but instead either avoid them, use a trigger warning, or provide some context first:
 

{C}·      FREE SCREENING W/ SNACKS:
A sexual assault awareness documentary called “It was Rape” this Thursday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Humanities.  Eight women tell their personal stories.  The film might be triggering to survivors or their friends.  A Monsour counselor will lead a discussion afterwards.

 

[sometimes, using the phrase “sexual assault” is preferable because it tends to be way less triggering than “RAPE” or “IT WAS RAPE”]

 

{C}·      THURSDAY: ENJOY A MOVIE AND DISCUSSION

Hear the stories, not just the statistics, behind sexual assault.  Jennifer Baumgardner gives eight women the opportunity to share their experiences in this emotional piece.  Afterwards, there will be a discussion about the silence in our society concerning this issue, led by a Monsour counselor.  7:30 p.m., Humanities Auditorium.

{C}·      END THE SILENCE

TW: sexual assault.  We’ll be showing “It Was Rape,” a documentary telling the stories of survivors. This powerful film brings to light the fact that sexual assault is too common.  There will be snacks and a discussion afterwards.  7:30 p.m., Humanities.  This will be a safe space.

The reason I list these, again, is to remind that there were alternatives to promote this event.  I look forward to seeing the new posters.  I hope this event is hugely successful and I thank ResLife for trying to spread awareness of sexual assault and end the denial in our society.  This issue is very important.  The March 3 e-mail, however, wrongfully drew upon an otherwise sound policy and, in so doing, trivialized survivors’ responses to obvious triggers, as well as responses in the interest of survivor’s immediate well-being.

“We strive to be conscientious of our postings on campus,” states the e-mail.  ResLife should understand what is at stake when a giant poster that says “IT WAS RAPE” in huge, hard-to-miss letters is posted in a living space likely occupied by multiple survivors of sexual assault.  Students, such as myself, who responded by placing “trigger warning” signs over the trigger felt this action was, in this very specific instance, more important than policy.  This e-mail instead denounced this conscientious gesture, which was made out of compassion and respect.

Warmly,

Anna Marburger

AN OPEN LETTER TO LORI BETTISON-VARGA AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Dear President Lori Bettison-Varga and the Scripps Board of Trustees,


As members of the Scripps College community, we hold a deep love for our college, the ideals it stands for, and its future potential. Among those ideals is diversity. When we came to Scripps, we were told that, here, we didn’t have to choose between our myriad interests in the arts, sciences, social activism, business, law, technology, or public service. We felt encouraged, then, when the mission statement of the LASPA Center for Leadership reflected values Scripps purports to uphold by emphasizing a wide range of opportunities in a multitude of sectors. The rejection of Margaret Okazawa-Rey symbolized a rejection of a vision of diversity and inclusivity for both the LASPA Center and Scripps College as an institution.
We believe that LASPA can serve the breadth of interests, talents, and voices of Scripps students. Students are interested in business, STEM, community engagement, yet no resources in these fields are available on our campus. The LASPA Center must provide the resources, opportunities, and real-world connections for students to develop 21st century leadership across these fields in order to give back to our communities and the College. As a diverse group of CLORG members and student leaders, we know it is essential that the values of LASPA are centered around the needs of underrepresented groups. An institution that enables the most marginalized members of its community to thrive will inevitably benefit all of its constituents.
Establishing a unique identity for Scripps is essential to the growth of our college, and the LASPA center provides a crucial opportunity to do just that. Though we look to the models set forth by the other Claremont Colleges—Claremont McKenna’s Kravis Leadership Center that fuels the spirit of entrepreneurship at CMC or Pomona’s Draper Center that develops community partnerships—we are not the other Claremont Colleges. Scripps has the essential values to encompass all interests, and the LASPA Center need not marginalize some in order to advance others. Instead, we envision an interdisciplinary center that upholds Scripps’ value of diversity and inclusivity by reflecting students’ many interests. Building interdisciplinary leadership in the 21st century requires embracing social responsibility, consciousness, and ethics—qualities that mark Scripps students as exemplary leaders.
These values are imperative and must be explicitly integrated into the mission of the LASPA Center. In order to create not only a more inclusive LASPA Center but also a future for Scripps with more justice, knowledge, and truth, we believe the following demands are non-negotiable:


1) The values of diversity and inclusivity should be at the Center’s core. This means that the needs and voices of under-represented and marginalized groups will inform all aspects of the center’s work, which will then serve as an organizational model both nationally and internationally.
The LASPA Founding Director must have a vision that compasses our institution’s commitment to diversity. This vision must be achieved in collaboration with students, faculty and staff.
2) The mission of the Center must include a definitive statement that bans the training of leaders who perpetuate systems of exploitation in all sectors (the corporate world, government, civil society).
A student vetoing system should be implemented to ensure a system of checks and balances in the event that the Director or any LASPA staff member pursues a collaboration with an organization that violates this stance against exploitation.
3) The LASPA Center must work to enhance, rather than detract energy and resources away from, the pre-existing work of CP&R, SCORE, or Off-Campus Study.
4) The LASPA Center must work to create leaders in all fields who are socially conscious, responsible, and accountable to the diverse experience of the Scripps community.
This includes better support within the center for students in all fields, including art, science, NGOs, government, entrepreneurship, social activism, technology, law, and public service. We stress the importance of not segregating these fields, but instead incorporating interdisciplinary methods of bridging their differences.
5) The numbers of faculty, staff, students, alumni, Board of Trustee members, and other constituents who voted for each of the final Director candidates must be published in Scripps Voice or in the Student Union.
6) The foci expressed in the Center’s acronym must be defined. The College should collaborate with faculty to define “analysis” and “scholarship” and with SCORE to define “public service” and “action” in order to build on work already in process, thus allowing the LASPA Center to smoothly transition into the campus climate. These outcomes should be published in Scripps Voice or in the Student Union.
7) Hire a Program Coordinator at SCORE that has all of their FTEs at SCORE and is limited to sitting on no more than two committees. We demand that funds for this new position be allotted from the We Want More campaign.
8) Raise the wage for maintenance and housekeeping workers and all workers not currently earning a living wage. We demand that the colleges do not hire temporary workers, and do not engage in the practice of scheduling a 28-hour work week when there is a minimum number of 30 hours to receive benefits, as Pitzer has done.
9) Increase resources for Black, Latina, Native American, Trans* and Disabled Scripps students by increasing the number of Scripps staff who have knowledge of working in these marginalized communities and increasing financial resources.
10) Strengthen Scripps’s commitment to women by strengthening the Feminist, Gender, Sexuality Studies Department. Increase the budget of the department and open 2 new positions up in addition to the one that Professor Chris Guzaitis quit.

The signed organizations below endorse the demands proposed in this letter. A detailed response to each of the demands including how the President will achieve each demand is required in print by March 10th, 2014.

Sincerely:
Asian American Student Union

Asian American Sponsor Program

Café Con Leche

Classy

Disability, Illness, and Difference Alliance

Family

Indigenous Students Alliance

The Editors-in-Chief of The Scripps Voice [Megan Petersen & Aidan Harley]

Wanawake Weusi

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE SCRIPPS COALITION AGAINST MORE

To the Scripps College community:
On February 16, a group of concerned students representing multiple CLORGs on campus came together to form the Scripps Coalition Against More in reaction to President Lori Bettison-Varga’s decision to re-start the search for the LASPA Founding Director. The LASPA Center is the priority project in the We Want More campaign, and LBV’s rejection of Margaret Okazawa-Rey was a rejection not only of an outstanding candidate for Founding Director, but of the values of social justice and community voice that Dr. Okazawa-Rey embodied in her work. The decision discarded months of work by students, faculty, staff, and alumae who overwhelmingly advocated for her inauguration, in effect silencing the Scripps community that the LASPA Center and the We Want More campaign is supposed to serve. As students at Scripps, we are taught to think critically. Thus, we are forced to question who this campaign is truly serving, and what kind of vision LBV and the administration have for both the LASPA Center and the future of Scripps College. Signed, The Scripps Coalition Against More FMI, or to voice your concerns: and
whowantsmore2014.tumblr.com

70TH CERAMIC ANNUAL AT SCRIPPS' WILLIAMSON GALLERY

On January 25, the Williamson Gallery at Scripps College hosted the 70th Ceramic Annual opening show, which is the only exhibition in the nation for contemporary ceramics to occur for the past 70 years since World War II. The show has been curated in the past by both curators who are involved with the Claremont Colleges and those who are not. At the opening, a majority of the people who attended were not students or professors; they were just lovers of art from all over Southern California. 

This year, the show is exhibiting over 60 pieces of artworks by twenty American artists. Their work dates from between 1945 to 2013. The pieces, though all fitting into the genre of ceramics, are vastly different from each other. They give the room vibrant character, with the various colors, designs, and textures in their separate places. The room appears to be connected by these works and their differences, exhibiting the fluid relationship of ceramic art of the past flowing into the work of today. 

The exhibition will be on display until April 6. The Williamson Gallery is located next to Steele Hall on Columbia. Its hours of operation are Wednesday through Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. 

SCRIPPS WELCOMES "THE FEMINIST WIRE" WRITERS AND EDITORS FOR ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION

On the evening of February 13, several editors and writers for “The Feminist Wire” came to Scripps for a discussion on the website, its founding, its mission, and its structure. The round table featured Tamura A. Lomax, co-founder and managing editor; Monica J. Casper, managing editor; Aishah Shahidah Simmons, associate editor; and Sikivu Hutchinson, contributing editor.
“The Feminist Wire” was born from a moment where racism, sexism, and the media collided. Lomax described feeling a “need to intervene,” because no one was interested in the black feminist side of the story. “We set out to create a space for that other side of the story,” she continued.
Casper would go on to detail the “invisible labor” involved in creating that space. “We all get very, very tired,” she said. All writers for “The Feminist Wire” are volunteers—they contribute to the website in their free time (many of them work in academia or have families), and are not compensated for their work. Casper described the website as a “collective.” “Nobody owns The Feminist Wire,” she said. “It just lives.” This collective structure does require what Casper described as a “tremendous amount of trust,” as well as “love and collaboration.” With no one person in charge, everyone must rely on one another to have work completed on time that fulfills the standards of the website.
“We have each other’s back,” Simmons continued, “even when we don’t agree.” She elaborated on the “invisible labor” necessary for The Feminist Wire to remain online. Although the editors are constantly in touch, they rarely, if ever, meet in person. Instead, they hash out all details of the website via email and chat. Some of the editors at the roundtable met for the first time that night, a fact that inspired laughter from both the round table and the audience.
Simmons sobered quickly, though. She explained that what made the Wire unique was that they were willing to “pull out and tease various issues” in a way particular to the website. This often involves the creation of forums, where several people will look at an issue from different perspectives. This process often requires many people, but the collective is incredibly thoughtful when it comes to adding new members. This is true whether they are writers or editors— after all, Simmons said, they “try to embody the work we produce on the site.”
This work includes not only work from collective-approved writers but also pieces from college, high school, and middle school students. Hutchinson is an especially strong force behind getting young voices on the site— she is incredibly interested in the issues of young women of color in the LA area, whose voices are systematically silenced. Because of this, these voices that aren’t normally given a chance to speak are often presented on The Feminist Wire. The round table ended with a Q&A session before the editors and the audience dispersed.

UPDATE:

The Scripps Voice would like to credit the Scripps FGSS Department, particularly Piya Chatterjee, Kayon James, and Emily Johnson, for the organization and facilitation of this event.

We would also like to emphasize the intersectional, anti-imperialist, and anti-elitist focus and missions of both The Feminist Wire and the FGSS Departments, and we hope to focus on that more in future coverage and articles regarding FGSS and their events. In particular, we would like to push questions of what it means to be a feminist at Scripps, a private, liberal arts institution that costs $60,000 to attend? 

We also hope to continue to generate discussion, and to ensure that all voices have a space to speak within the pages of The Scripps Voice.

SCRIPPS BLOGGERS SHARE LIVES ONLINE

Like superheroes, many people have their own sort of secret identity. That girl in your class may be ravenously obsessed with a television show; that person you saw across the dining hall could be a first-class juggler. And in this day and age, pretty much anyone could be running a blog.
By now it’s possible to carve out a space of your own in the rugged frontier that is the Internet— and indeed, Scripps students contribute to everything from creative writing blogs to blogs more focused on social justice, spaces celebrating geekdom, and places to describe in loving detail each aspect of studying abroad. What unites Scripps bloggers (and really, bloggers in general) is a passion that leads them to put fingers to keyboards, touchscreens, and frustratingly imprecise phone keyboards to talk about what they love.
At least that’s the case for Megan Gianniny ‘14. She says, “I think my identity as a geek/nerd is a really important part of myself that people can’t always tell from looking at me (although they certainly can if I’m wearing one of my many “Doctor Who” shirts), and blogging gives me a way to share that passion with a wider online audience.”
Gianniny says that community provided by blogging has been a great part of what makes blogging exciting and enjoyable for her — and in fact, a large motivating factor for many bloggers is the idea of a community with similar interests and passions.
Sarah Luna Lockwood ’16 also found that she thrived in an online community— “in my life,” she says, “it provided a very vital connection. It’s never good to spend too much time online, but I think that the Internet can provide a certain kind of happiness to people who don’t have access to it otherwise.”
For many people, that happiness can be a powerful motivator. But there are as many reasons for starting a blog as there are blogs and people who run them. Alicen Lewis ’15 says she started her own blog in part to have a platform to express her opinions and share her views.
“I have so many ideas I want to put out there,” she says, “that I just don’t have time to put down on paper.”
Others agree— “it is a perfect opportunity to be creative,” says Selene Hsu ‘15, “and exercise writing skills that would really help articulate the kind of person you are to future employers or to anyone on the blogosphere!”
“I highly recommend anyone interested in blogging to go ahead and make one,” continues Hsu, who mainly focuses on her experience studying abroad in her own blog. “My only advice is to not go into making a blog with the mindset of having it perfect. Be authentic. Learn from your mistakes. Have fun! Don’t be intimidated by established blogs since they all had to start from somewhere too!”
“I think if it’s something that someone has a strong interest in, and something they’re truly passionate about, then I would recommend they go for it, no matter what,” agrees Gianniny. “I think the joy of getting to share your passions with an audience, however large or small it may end up being, outweighs the difficulties of balancing it with student life.”
Sure, balancing schoolwork, a blog, and some sort of social life can be a tough situation. But at the end of the day, it’s pretty good to have a space to be yourself— express your own views, talk about things that get you excited, or just share your day-to-day life. It’s a great big world out there. May as well get blogging about it.

OSCARS A DISAPPOINTMENT FOR FEMALE REPRESENTATION

The theme of the 86th Academy Awards was, purportedly, “Heroes in Hollywood.” This dream was realized through a montage of inspirational characters of the silver screen shown partway through the show, a dazzling montage with a dazzling array of white male faces of every size and shape.
There was also Katniss, and The Bride. Female representation is alive and kicking in Hollywood, everyone!
…Unfortunately, this would grow to be a bit of a theme.
The Academy Awards is far too much of a boy’s club, but in order to discuss this more fully we’ll need to take it from the top.
For one definition of “beginning,” it’s important to note that the continued male domination of the awards starts with the Academy itself. According to a study completed by the LA Times, the membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is 93 percent white and 76 percent male, a fact that does not bode well for what sort of films and filmmakers the voters are likely to relate to and vote for. The Academy has been making strides to combat this, in theory, accepting large numbers of voters in the past few years in an attempt to further diversify its ranks. However, with so much of the Academy’s ranks so predominately white, male, and rapidly aging, it will take a lot more than hastily accepting more members to fix what seems like a broken system.
This bias is reflected in the show itself: continuing a regrettable tradition, the nominees for Best Director were entirely male. There has been one female winner of the award in the entire history of the awards, a mere five years ago in 2009. Kathryn Bigelow, the winner, makes up 25 percent of all female nominees for the award. That’s right. There have been four.
This trend continues in the other awards, with nine of 13 awards for the work of individuals (thus, categories like Best Animated Film, Best Documentary Short, Original Song, etc. excluded) going to entirely male crews. The female award winners? Cate Blanchett for Actress in a Leading Role; Lupita Nyong’o for Actress in a Supporting Role; Catherine Martin for Costume Design; Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews for Makeup and Hairstyling; and Catherine Martin (again!) and Beverley Dunn for Production Design.
Hardly the rousing sign of a female presence in the industry one would hope for.
Even the film “Gravity,” which is at its core about a powerful female performance, had its admirable seven awards accepted by an entirely male bunch. Not a single woman to be seen in a movie about a woman’s struggle – a tidy representation of the awards themselves.
To look at another branch of the tree: starting from the chronological beginning of this year’s broadcast, one has only to look at the red carpet coverage to see a huge difference between the treatment of female members of Hollywood and their male counterparts. It’s become another honored tradition to gleefully rip actresses apart on the red carpet for their choice of wardrobe, reducing these talented women to nothing more than slabs of meat ­— hands for the “manicam,” pans up and down the body that end rather than begin with the face, dissected to lips and hair and clutches and shoes. It’s difficult to take these actresses (and other members of the industry) seriously when audiences are trained to look at their appearance first and measure them on that. It’s building a poor foundation for a show designed to be a celebration of talent.
It’s true that this did improve slightly during the show, with Ellen DeGeneres bringing an enjoyable female presence to the stage (but really, anything would be an improvement over last year’s cringe worthy rendition of “We Saw Your Boobs”), but there are only so many jokes that can be made about Jennifer Lawrence’s clumsiness or the hyped-up competition between female actresses before the whole thing grows stale. It’s a baby step, but not a large one.
Lupita Nyong’o represented, hopefully, a shift for the awards when she took home the award for Best Supporting Actress with an emotional speech. With tears in her eyes, she said, “When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.” Although there is, as always, a long way to go —many deserving films made about, for, and by people of color were not present at this year’s ceremony — the triumph of Nyong’o (one of seven black actresses to take home the award) and her director Steve McQueen (the first African American director to win the award for Best Picture) do represent another step forwards for a ceremony plagued by stagnation.
This by no means cancels out the previously mentioned imbalance of age, race, and gender within the Academy, a problem that still desperately seeks a solution. It’s not as if the problem lies within the filmmakers, even — films like Fruitvale Station were hailed by critics and audiences alike, yet remain mysteriously absent from ballots.
Everyone knows the Academy’s weakness for period pieces. Maybe the solution is just to make films about slavery until the minds of the Academy make the leap from the 1800s to the present. 
In fact, the Academy seems far too stuck on the past, in a time where women were silent and people of color weren’t even onscreen. This realization is spreading throughout the world and throughout the industry itself. While accepting her award for Actress in a Leading Role, Cate Blanchett addressed a message to her fellow industry members: “Those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences: they are not — audiences want to see them, and in fact they earn money. The world is round, people!”
Audiences have realized it. It’s time the Academy did too.

OH, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THOSE YELP REVIEWS! COMMENTARY ON THE METRO BLUE LINE

TW. Ableism/Classism, Holocaust

 

Many of us, especially those not from Southern California, wish we could spend some time outside the Claremont bubble. One popular way of doing this is by going to Los Angeles. While many of us have taken the Metrolink to Downtown LA, fewer of us have taken the Metro Blue Line. This article is a way of giving you the facts on this train, before you get scared senseless by reading Yelp reviews. 

Yelp MTA Blue Line Reviews are the epitome of what happens when people (mostly White) are sheltered their whole lives and do not know how to deal with PUBLIC transportation and the fact that there are people of color there. This is not only about race, as sheltered people live everywhere, but it is true that the Blue Line is populated by mostly people of color. It is the service hundreds of thousands of people use to travel from Downtown LA into South LA and Long Beach. And get this: Most of them are hard workers, and use the line only to get from Point A to Point B. And yet the Yelp reviews will say “most” people are loud or ready to shoot you. 

Yes, there are mentally ill people on the train, as well as other eccentric characters. I remember a man who would take out his glass eye and show it to me as a child. And let’s not forget Black Santa asking for pot brownies and Jack Daniels for Christmas after selling us finger lights. However, we cannot ban them; this is public transportation and they have as much of a right to be there as anyone else. And if there are ever people who get too out of hand, there is always a conductor and police force, especially when going through the areas of Compton and Florence. 

If I were to take the time to answer to every Yelp Blue Line Review that is racist, classist and ableist, we would all be here a very long time. This is why the following two reviews are but a snapshot.  In the first one, I would like to draw attention to the phrase, “Most of its riders demonstrate urban poverty at its worst...” And what exactly is urban poverty at its best? In addition, even if you knew nothing about the Blue Line coming into this, there is no way that saying the riders were “raised by wolves and vending machines” does not raise red flags.

 The next review is just as terrible, as the author writes, “It also seemed as we were in a concentration train heading to Auschwitz” without a second thought. Response to that: No. There is no reason to complain seeing black and brown people on a train to the Holocaust. It is not that bad. Ever. Both of these reviews show that there are huge amounts of segregation in this city, with people here who are surprised that Los Angeles has poor people. There are legitimate reasons to complain about the Metro LA Blue line, such as train delays and overcrowding (of which there is a lot), but this is not one of them. On the contrary, the Blue Line can offer an environmentally friendly way to quickly reach Downtown Long Beach, shopping areas, and cultural monuments for only $1.50. All you have to do is be respectful and willing to mingle with people you wouldn’t normally.  

All in all, riding public transportation in Los Angeles is one of the best ways you can get to know the city. There really is a new way of seeing it when not in the confines of an individual car. But like LeVar Burton says on the show Reading Rainbow, “Don’t take my word for it!” 

*Eduardo Villa Jr, besides being Nancy’s BF, is an Anthropology student at California State University Long Beach (CSULB), and has been a proud Blue Line commuter for four years. 

RE-ENVISIONING THE SAT ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENT: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

So, if Scripps College decides to get rid of the SAT requirement, what alternatives are left? When speaking to the admission staff, there is worry about the need for an objective method of finding out the quality of their applicants.
Reasons why this is necessary are understandable: measures such as GPA become less useful in comparing students the more schools they come from. This is because a student could get a 4.0 for the same amount of work that earned another student at another school a 3.3. Every school and teacher have different ways of grading. In addition, there is the phenomenon of grade inflation, meaning GPAs have increased over time. This means that GPAs of most applicants to Scripps are now at least 3.8, higher than in the past. Therefore, the SAT and ACT seem like the least bad options, since they are identical tests given to every student. However, as with any “objective test” such as the IQ test, the test is never truly objective, and will always have its biases. This leaves the question: Is there a better way?  
Because of such high levels of competition among students, other measures have to be taken in order to find the best applicants, so Scripps engages in its fabulous holistic assessment process. This uses a combination of factors in order for the admissions office to decide whether someone is a great fit for the school or not. Here, we will examine alternative ways that the admissions office can measure students’ ability without requiring the SAT or ACT.

Eliminating the option to submit
SAT/ACT Scores
Let’s start with the most radical option and, at the Board of Trustees meeting, the first option that came up. Scripps could make it so that students cannot submit SAT/ACT scores to them. They do this by not having a College Board reporting number. By doing this, all students would be on an equal playing field. There is no risk for implicit bias, where students or admissions officers feel that students who submit scores are at an advantage to those who don’t. In addition, every applicant saves money.
There are three downsides to this: Scripps might have a slightly lower ranking, because average SAT scores are used. Of course, for agency reporting purposes the College can still collect the scores, but the mean is divided by .9.
It also ignores the fact that in our society, the SAT is still considered important, and is used to acquire scholarships and get into clubs. In addition, this could be a disappointment to students who feel proud of their testing score and cannot report it as part of their application. In light of this, it might be easier for Scripps to make a more gradual transition in terms of the SAT and ACT requirement.

Switching to SAT optional
This is by far the most common option that colleges take. Part of it is because it sits better politically, and is an easier policy to pass. However, it does offer benefits. The College Board stays content with the college because it is not opting out of their services altogether.
This is important, as historically the organization has gone to great lengths to keep customers, most famously in 2005 when the University of California system was about to opt out of the testing requirement. In addition, this allows students who feel proud of their scores to have the choice to continue reporting them to their desired colleges.
Usually when colleges are SAT optional, they only offer this option to students who already have a high GPA and/or class rank. This means that students who do not fulfill the exemption requirements still have a chance of admission by submitting their presumably amazing SAT and/or ACT scores.

 

Alternatives to the SAT/ACT
1.    SAT Subject Tests/ Advanced Placement (AP) exams
Since this isn’t my favorite option, let’s get this one out of the way. Many counselors have suggested using the SAT subject tests or AP exams as a way to substitute the SAT.  Research by Colby College shows that these exams are more indicative of knowledge and academic success than the SAT. Also, they tend to be aligned with school curricula, and in many cases are more rigorous than the SAT or ACT. (Currently Scripps College does not require SAT subject tests or AP exam scores.) However, there is a huge problem of access. If students cannot afford or do not have the option of fee waivers, then switching to these tests is still exclusionary for them. AP exams are even more expensive than the SAT, at $89 each. In addition, there are no fee waivers available, only fee reductions to $40 per exam (with additional district subsidies sometimes available). In addition, these exams are not administered as often, and some schools choose not to engage with the academic structure of AP courses.
2. Class Rank
First off, class rankings are numbers; what could be more objective than that? In all seriousness, class rank is a tool that can be used as a way for Scripps to distill the best of the crop. Scripps already uses class rank in its favor, pulling most of its class from the top 10th percentile. It is effective in measuring capability because it puts applicants in their local context. Being the best student in your high school academically means a lot, no matter the school you came from- that is a fact. The admissions website brags that future Scripps students’ grades “rarely venture past the first letter of the alphabet”. Rank is a way of being able to quantify the value of those high GPAs, which can be supplemented by the rest of the admissions materials.
    However, not every school ranks their students. In addition, there are some excellent students who because of extenuating circumstances, could not achieve spectacular grades all the time. For this reason, the submission of class rank (usually shown in school transcripts), like standardized tests, should always remain optional.
    3. Portfolios/ Graded essays, tests
Schools who go SAT optional usually ask their students to submit writing samples and/or math exams. These give the admissions team a chance to see for themselves the ability applicants possess in the way standardized tests claim to do. Scripps College already requires a writing sample from every student, in order to both gauge ability and place students in Writing 50. Therefore, Scripps could choose to require a math exam to those who do not submit scores (Everyone if there is no option to submit scores).
    According to Inside Higher Ed, Lewis and Clark College has, since 1990, offered students the option to opt out of the SAT if they submit a portfolio of four of their best works from junior and senior year of high school. In this case (and most others), the stereotype that students who choose not to submit scores have low ones is not true. Instead, what the college sees is that students who do the portfolio option tend to be more motivated. It may not be a popular choice, but having that choice makes students satisfied, because they do not have to be represented with a test score.
Scripps has always been proud of its incoming classes. Every summer, during the community meeting, the president shows a snapshot of the first-years and their amazing accomplishments. In an environment like this, there is plenty of room for creativity; where the SAT and ACT, can still have a place, but not a mandatory one. And students can choose to submit an alternative, realistically something along the path of the portfolio, an escape from the fatigue of our culture of over testing.

THE SCRIPPS COLLEGE RUMOR MILL

In this segment, we will quench the gossip that goes around Scripps College, and relay the real truth: 

1. Chris Guzaitis’ was not laid off. Guzaitis chose to leave Scripps College because she did not feel it was a personal fit for her. She preferred to move back to her community in Chicago, and pursue another line of work. The reason her resignation felt so strange was because of the official Scripps e-mail, which offered no clue to what her next job was. It also did not give students a way to wish her off, and she did not appear to receive a farewell party. This had made students suspicious as to why she had left. 

2. There will not be an increase in tenure requirements. This was a rumor started after students despaired over having two great professors, Tony Crowley and Guzaitis, left Scripps College. The issue of tenure in higher education is a contentious issue however. Members of the Scripps community tend to be in support of tenure. Even here however, there are struggles in keeping a balance between professors on the tenure-track and those who are part-time and not on the tenure-track. Compared to other colleges, who are getting rid of tenure altogether, Scripps is relatively good at having professors who are tenured, and in hiring at least some new professors on the tenure-track.

We at the Scripps Voice acknowledge that the topic of tenure can be confusing, and so we will be conducting a two-part series on the tenure process, and the tenure debate. Part One will cover the tenure debate in general, and Part Two will focus on how tenure works at Scripps College. 

If you have any rumors that you have been hearing (or reading about on the Internet!)  about Scripps College, or any of the Claremont Colleges that you would like us to investigate, please email them to us at

AN INTRODUCTORY GUIDE TO PROFESSOR TENURE AND HIRING PRACTICES

As promised, here is a breakdown of two often confusing topics: professor tenure and hiring practices. Here are the facts directly from the source: Dean of Faculty, Amy Marcus Newhall. In addition, further explanation comes from the Scripps Faculty Handbook. 
What happens when a faculty member retires, resigns or is displaced? 
If the position was tenure-track, then the replacement position is usually tenure-track as well. The department the position was in submits a request for replacement, which outlines why there is a need for the position. The replacement is not automatic, but close to it, with an assumption that the position will be filled. 
What is the difference between Tenured, Contract-based, and Contingent Faculty? 
Tenured faculty are those whom after demonstrating excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service for six years, are awarded with a higher level of job security. With tenure, the College has decided to commit to having a job for the faculty for the rest of his or her career. 
Contract-based faculty are hired for determined amount of time. When the contract ends, their job might end. Contract-based faculty are still eligible to receive resources from Scripps, such as research money and travel awards in order for them to continue developing their career. In addition, they are able to apply for tenure-track positions as they open. Many faculty, such as Amy Marcus Newhall herself, started their Scripps career on a contract-basis, and were then able to secure a tenure-track position. 
Contingent faculty teach classes at Scripps on a part-time basis. They may not yet have the scholarship needed to apply for a tenure-track position, and so use this position as a way to gain experience. For example, there have been language professors who start off as contingent faculty at Scripps and then move on to tenure-track positions at other colleges. Alternatively, some contingent faculty may not want the pressure of constant publishing and so voluntarily choose to not do the tenure track. 
What about Writing 50 professors? Where do they stand? 
Professors who teach Writing 50 are hired on a course-by-course basis, not a multi-year contract. They are given a stipend to teach the course. They are not eligible to apply for research funds because they are here for such a short time. The only full-time faculty in the Writing Department are Kimberly Drake and Glenn Shimshaw (Shimshaw is full-time, but not on the tenure-track). It is difficult to hire the Writing 50 instructors full-time because most students who take the course, only take it during the fall, and prefer to do so. Hiring these professors full-time would mean giving the professors courses to teach during the Spring. 
How do we decide what new faculty positions to open up?
Whenever there is the election of a new Faculty Executive Committee (FEC), there is a call out to all departments to submit materials where they list their priorities. Based on that, the committee decides what new positions to open up. In addition, they look at the current faculty-student ratio and hire in a way to keep it 10:1. For this cycle, there has been a call out for five new tenure-track positions in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies (previously filled by Chris Guzaitis), Politics (unfilled), English (filled by Jacqueline Wernimont), Media Studies (unfilled) and Hispanic Studies (unfilled). The FEC is dedicated to a fair and open process when it comes to the hiring of faculty. Board members are voted on, although there is no guarantee of even representation of members across disciplines. 
In addition, for truly intercollegiate departments, the 7C Academic Dean’s committee plans the hiring of new faculty. They have made an ongoing commitment to hire two new tenure-track faculty in all three ethnic studies departments. 
The Keck Science Department works on a different, more complex level. There is currently a severe shortage of tenure-track science professors, but it is not possible to hire them due to a lack of space. Tenure-track faculty are expected to engage in research, but right now the Department is maxed out on lab and work space. Because science professors have their own lab, they are also more expensive to hire. Thus, there is planning underway for a new science building. 
Hiring of professors at Scripps, the Intercollegiate Departments and the Keck Science Department is connected because they are all paid out of the same general budget. For the Intercollegiate Departments and Keck, Scripps pays a portion of the faculty’s salary. 
How are students involved in faculty hiring and tenure procedures? 
When evaluating a faculty member for the prospect of tenure, students are asked to write letters in or against their favor. In addition, course evaluations are a critical component analyzed by the Appointment, Promotions and Tenure Committee (APT) when deciding whether or not to grant a professor tenure. In addition, winning the Student’s Choice Professor of the Year Award is something that can be put on a professor’s resume, and is seen as a huge positive. 

ON SILENCE

I love you Scripps, and that’s why I need you to change. There are these things that you keep doing that leave me sad and frustrated. It’s why I spent all night campaigning, flyering, writing, meeting. Because I want to see change. I need to feel hope.

            One of the best parts of the College is the amazing people here. If it wasn’t for them, going here would be a much sadder experience. There was an e-mail sent out recently by President Lori Bettison-Varga stating that the search for a LASPA director was going to be restarted. LASPA is a leadership center that Scripps will inaugurate next year. The search for a director had whittled down to two candidates, one being Margo Okazawa-Rey. Besides being involved in international anti-violence work and being one of the founding members of the Combahee River Collective, she has the credentials and decades of work experience for the job. She was the director of other leadership centers, and is committed to fostering every student’s individual type of leadership.

On a personal note, I had met with her over the summer, where she was scheduled to give the generic “diversity” talk for the organization I was a part of. To my surprise, she went above and beyond in her work. Unusual for a one hour talk on diversity, she covered complex areas such as hegemony and intersectionality. Immediately after the talk, I went to one of the Scripps administrators and said, “I would love her to be the speaker for the first years’ diversity and inclusivity meeting.” She didn’t get the position, but they reassured me that the chosen speaker they hired would be just as great.

So of course I was thrilled to see her be a candidate for the LASPA director position. Because I knew she would be amazing. Because she was a queer woman of color (Japanese/Black) who would look out for the interest of underserved communities. Administrators, in my eyes, had always painted this center as somewhere I would not want to be. Something that cannot serve me. (Note: The following was told to me over the summer so the plans might have changed.) It would have a wall full of LCD screens, so that they can constantly broadcast the world’s news. They would also be used in order for Scripps students to have video conferences with leaders across the world and to have their job interviews with employers outside of California. To me, it serves to evoke images of what it would look like if a corporation had a child with the United Nations.

Margo Okazawa-Rey, with her candidacy, inspired me to broaden my view of the center. She introduced values that could be essential for creating a successful center, even if it wasn’t the one receiving the most donations. We could have a center that also focuses on social justice. On community engagement, not just internationally, but with our local surroundings, like Ontario and Pomona. We could helpeveryone, and develop each type of leadership, including campaigning for public office, community organizing and teaching.

In order to advocate for her selection, there were petitions, surveys and individual letters sent out. In addition, she had the support from the faculty in the selection committee and from alumni. And yet, she wasn’t chosen. Actually, no one was chosen since the process has been restarted. And that, to me, was a way of shattering my dreams. We were all confused. As a student body. Angry too. Because if Lori-Bettison Varga will not acknowledge the product of a democratic process, then why even have it to begin with? Why ask for student input at that point?

What kept me sane, and what is still keeping me sane, is that there are many people that feel the way I do. Because if I were the only one, or I didn’t know anyone else, I knew it would have weighed on me. Because there are fewer feelings that sink to your gut than that of being silenced. Then that of feeling incompetent, knowing there is nothing you can do.

And so I am grateful to have so many amazing people around here that can fight back. So that we can join together and make sure we are heard. So that I can keep having hope that Scripps can be a place for students, whom outside of the Bubble, are already cast out.