Volume XV, Issue Four
November 17, 2011
The Scripps Voice Inside...
Take a look at the women who have recently influenced Scripps. page 6
Differences between Scripps life now and before Malott Commons page 11
Julie Elliott Leaves for the East Coast By Sarah Stringer ‘12 Staff Writer After 12 years of helping prepare Scripps students for almost every level of their lives after Scripps, Career Planning & Resources Special Projects Manager Julie Elliott now finds herself navigating the same situations that she has helped countless students face. At the end of the semester, Elliott will be moving with her family to Baltimore, Md., leaving the Claremont community and establishing new networks in her future hometown. “I’m going to lose my close friends here, but it’s a lot of what seniors will do, too,” Elliott said. “It’s just the transition to life outside of this amazing place, and it’s been amazing, it’s been a great 12 years.” Elliott’s husband, Heath, has just started a new position with development at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. While he has already started work in Baltimore, Elliott has decided to remain with their two daughters—one of whom is in third grade, one of whom is in kindergarten—until the end of the semester, at which point she and her husband will pack up and move to the east coast together. Elliott was born and raised in the south, and she admits she knows virtually nothing about the area where she will soon be living. Now, Elliott realizing she is taking the advice she normally gives students in terms of networking and building connections. “I’m trying to tap in to whoever I know on the east coast,” Elliott said. These efforts have already started to pay off. “I feel like I’ve already got people that, once I’m there, will help me make connections in the neighborhood.” This personal networking has also led her to some possible career prospects. While not searching for professional contacts, Elliott has already communicated with the career service departments at three universities in the area, and has even heard of one potential part-time position. Still, Elliott said that her main pri-
ority will be helping her children adjust, and taking time to get acclimated herself to the new environment. She adds that she is looking forward to this time of transition, which will allow her to reflect on her own goals and objectives. “There’s part of me that’s excited about the adventure of it. I could reinvent myself,” said Elliott. “I haven’t really given it much thought, because I really like my work in career services, but maybe I could do something else in higher education. Maybe in taking some time off, I can do some of the work we encourage our students to do, and really consider if is there something else I’d like to do. I’m excited about taking some time to figure it all out.” Elliott has always been dedicated to her family and her career, two driving forces that have, at times, proved difficult to negotiate. She has been open in sharing about her own process of finding a work-life balance; in 2010, the Scripps College Magazine profiled her perspectives on these issues. Previously serving as the director of career services, Elliott found that she was unable to spend as much time with her family as she thought necessary. This ultimately led to a breaking point, when she went to then Dean of Students Deborah Wood for help. Together, they came up with a new part-time position as Special Projects Manager for Elliott to fill. “I have been so blessed to be able to work part-time here at Scripps, and to be able to be at home in the afternoon with my kids,” Elliott said. “I really cannot say how fortunate I feel that I get to do both things that I love.” Elliott began working at Scripps in 1999. First working in the CP&R office in Steele Hall, Elliott was involved in the office’s move to its current location in Seal Court in 2000. Elliott has since served in almost every position with CP&R. She has been intimately involved in several projects, including launching CX,
PHOTO COURTESY OF SCRIPPS COLLEGE
the Claremont-wide administrative database for faculty, staff and students that has been essential in integrating the various offices and the different Claremont institutions and keeping everyone up-to-date. Life Connection and the academic portal are all part of this network that Elliott helped to create with her 5C colleagues. Another major project that Elliott has particularly enjoyed has been building relationships with faculty in Keck Science to be able to better serve Scripps students in the joint science program. This project has involved everything from large-scale programming efforts to providing sample science resumes with input from Professor Armstrong and Professor Wiley. The results of Elliott’s efforts are now in the CP&R service booklet, and have helped students represent
continued on page 3
Occupy Movement Comes to Claremont By Megan Petersen ‘15 Copy Editor
Getting ready for Thanksgiving cooking? Need some ideas? We’ve got recipes! page 10
Scripps students bare it all at the Motley for breast casting page 2
On Sept. 17, protesters angry about what they call a broken economic system descended on Wall Street in order to make their frustrations known. Two months later, the protesters are still camped out—albeit without their tents and generators as of Tuesday night—in Zuccotti Park in New York City. The movement has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and 1,500 cities worldwide. Claremont is one of those many cities, sporting two groups with the same idea. One is a 5C group based out of Pitzer College, and the other is a group comprised of students in Claremont High School (CHS). The 5C group, according to a Pitzer freshman, who came about because of the number of students commuting to the movement in Los Angeles. “We felt we needed to form a base here,” said a Pitzer freshman, who noted that the group needed to tread carefully in its plans because “Claremont is not as liberal as its students.” But the group is still active. Members of the Claremont group did show up and support an occupation in Pomona, Calif. last weekend. Isael Gonzales Goodman (PZ ‘14) said an actual occupation is in the works for next semester. They are also planning a teach-in before Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Claremont McKenna College on Nov. 30. Jade said the group has no official leader—the meetings are chaired by a different, appointed member each time—in order to keep it as group-based as possible. The group at CHS is spearheaded by two students, Yousuf Hafuda and Misha Ridnisbacher, who are planning a protest march for Saturday, Nov. 19, beginning at Memorial Park at 12 p.m. and moving through the Claremont Village. Hadufa, who said that the group has worked with two teachers at CHS and the CHS Democrat Club, said that the protest is a “one-time event intended for people to get their voices heard and will not be continuing as a full Occupy movement.” Hafuda said that at least 50 protesters were expected on Saturday. The two groups had similar sources of disgruntlement. “I’m an economics major, and I just think the system right now is so complicated and messed up,” said Ojan Mobedshahi (PZ ‘12). “We need to reevaluate our values.” Hafuda said, expressing support for the movement’s main ideals: “Basically, that the level of economic and political injustice in the United States has transcended levels of
normalcy,” he said. But there is no singular goal or course of action among those involved. “Our government doesn’t give anybody an equal chance,” Gonzales Goodman said. “I want free education and free health care. People can say what they want about issues with welfare and things like that, but everyone should be given a fair opportunity.” The Occupy movement is notorious among the media for being unclear about its positions and goals; Noah Stanton (PO ‘15) said that his experience at Occupy LA both confirmed and refuted that suspicion. “There is no doubt that protesters were diverse in their wants,” Stanton said, noting that he met communists, anarchists, socialists and libertarians, among others. “But on that march, the mass of people felt anything but disjoint. …Everyone there wanted one thing: equal opportunity.” Another major criticism for the movement is that it is not “occupying” the place it is actually supposed to be occupying: Congress. Furthermore, police in many areas are cracking down on movements and evicting the residents of tent cities popping up in various locations. The original Occupy group in Zuccotti Park was evicted by police Tuesday night and allowed to return without their tents and generators. Police arrested protesters who resisted police orders to leave the encampment in parks in Portland, Ore. Similar evictions and police interventions occurred in Chapel Hill, N.C., Salt Lake City, Utah, Albany, N.Y., Denver. Colo. and San Francisco, Calif. in recent weeks. Hafuda expressed a disgust for coverage of the movement, saying that the media was not covering the movement enough and was often overly-critical in its coverage. Though the future and effects of the international Occupy movement are still unclear, the movement in Claremont is still in its development stages. For more information, the 5C Occupy Movement has General Assembly meetings in the Huerta Room at the Gold Student Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. E-mail occupyclaremont@aol. com. For more information about the CHS movement, contact Yousuf Hafuda at yousuf_hafuda@yahoo.com.
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