Volume XV, Issue Eight
March 1, 2012
The Scripps Voice Inside...
Psi Chi’s Presence Gaining Momentum By Liz Lyon ‘12
Senior thesis doesn’t have to be just about writing a long, long research paper. page 6-7
Learn how it feels to have a video go viral! page 10
Early Saturday morning, a time when most of the campus is quiet save for the odd jogger, members of Scripps’ Psi Chi Chapter were busy and awake. By 8 a.m., members were in the Wilbur kitchen, prepping batter for Psi Chi’s all-you-can-eat pancakes. By 9 a.m., students craving banana, chocolate and peanut butter pancakes began trickling in. “We’ve started pancakes as a fundraiser for Psi Chi and Project Sister, with half the proceeds going to each group,” Psi Chi Co-President Allison Midden (’12) said. “We want to be service-oriented.” Psi Chi’s first pancake breakfast was held Feb. 4, and it has been gaining momentum since. The pancake breakfasts are part of Psi Chi’s recent efforts to reach out to the campus community and promote cohesion among psychology majors. With over 40 majors graduating this spring, the psychology department is one of the largest on campus. Psi Chi, an honor society, is trying to promote social activities and bonding among students, rather than being just an academic association to put on a resume. Pancake breakfasts are only one of the ways Psi Chi is trying to reach out to students. On April 21, Psi Chi will host the First Annual Scripps Undergraduate Research Conference, sponsored by the Psychology department.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLISON MIDDEN
Design Editor
For $3 on a Saturday morning, students like Sarah Williams ‘15 and Janine Yim ‘15 are able to eat their favorite homemade breakfast of homemade pancakes— and raise money for a good cause. The conference will be an opportunity for psychology students across the 5Cs to present their research to their peers; for some students, this will be useful practice as they go on to graduate school and present their own research at larger professional conferences. Scripps’ psychology and political science departments are cosponsoring the conference’s keynote speaker, Kristen Monroe. Monroe is a political science and philosophy professor from UC Irvine whose research interests includes empathy and altruism. One aspect of her re-
search extends to the moral choices made by Holocaust rescuers. The conference—held spring semester because the other colleges complete their theses in spring—is made possible in part by a grant from Psi Chi International. The grant funds an undergraduate research conference that has participants from at least three undergraduate colleges. “We’re excited about it, and we [the co-presidents] have learned a lot by getting the grant and putting the conference together,” Midden said. “Scripps was the ideal
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Changes Come to Hall Draw Process As the time to choose next year’s rooms approaches, Scripps has commenced with unveiling the big changes to next year’s options, beginning with the theme: “There’s no place like dorm.” While the process of hall draw remains relatively unchanged, students no longer have as many off-campus options. According to Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Staci Buchwald, Scripps has decided not to use College Park Apartments (CPA) anymore. In an email correspondence with Buchwald, she wrote that “CPA was deemed to be not cost effective to have only two students share and students did not express any interest in living at CPA with 3-4 people per apartment.” Buchwald explained that Scripps has also reduced the number of Brighton Park apartments available to students. Students still have the option to live on the all-Scripps third floor of Smiley Hall at Pomona, complete with a Scripps RA, in a continuation of this year’s trial period. The dwindling number of off-campus options—and the accompanying worry that there will not be enough rooms on campus—may exacerbate the already-present worry that many students experience every year around this time: that they will not get good rooms. Buchwald urges students not to stress, however. “There are no bad rooms at Scripps,” she said. “You may not get your first choice, but you will get a good space.” The most popular hall changes year to year, according to Buchwald. “I am always interested to see which hall is most popular
By Vritti Goel & Tori Mirsadjadi ‘12 Editor-in-Chief & Senior Copy Editor
Who are these foreign guys? Read about the three cyclists who stopped at Scripps in their cycling trip around the world. page 4
Yarnbombing takes hold in the 5C community. page 12
on the actual draw nights. I think it changes because the personalities of the students change as well. Different things are important to different people.” In spite of her reassurances, Buchwald avoided addressing whether or not the planning committee was prepared to deal with the large incoming classes that the previous two years have seen. Wrote Buchwald, “Rooms were re-evaluated over winter break and may have a new occupancy designation in cases of need. So, lots of triples for the first-year students at the moment.” It sounds as if we will continue the past couple years’ trend toward having rooms previously designated as singles or doubles house two or three students. Buchwald said that the last two incoming classes were “larger than anticipated.” Buchwald wrote, “it was not planned for them to be as big as they are.” She also said that she could not speak to admissions statistics as they relate to hall planning, as those statistics are the jurisdiction of the admissions office. With Buchwald’s deferral of a discussion of the size of next year’s class as it relates to hall draw planning, it sounds as if housing for Scripps students cannot actually be planned in advance—at least not concretely. There is no way to predict the size of each incoming class until the first day of New Student Orientation. To keep students’ stress levels about choosing next year’s rooms to a minimum, the Hall Draw Committee—a group of RAs, Hall Directors and other students—is hosting the traditional information sessions to answer any questions students may have.
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