State of the Student Body: A Message from Your ASCMC President

Dear CMC, the Greatest College Ever:

A belated welcome-back and happy almost-fall break to you all! If you don’t know me, my name is Jessica Mao a.k.a. JMAO, MaoMao, Jay-Meow, and whatever other nickname you’d like to give me. I am writing to you today about the current state of the student body, which includes my role as this year’s President, goals that the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College trying to meet, and a huge wad of other things you should look forward to this year. This letter serves as a preview into what is happening, so you can be in-the-know. I’ll leave it up to some of my fellow Executive Board members to elaborate on their incredible work in future Forum articles!

“So, MAO -- What do you do as Chairman? Oops, I mean President....”

Despite the rumors, I am not like my great-great-great-uncle, Chairman Mao. I oversee the Board of Directors and run our weekly Sunday night meetings where we give our updates and have discussions about anything and everything CMC-related. With your input, I work closely with the Dean of Students Office to continually bring forward your concerns. In addition to that, I make sure the usual things like elections and budgeting happen in a timely manner. Most of the work I do is behind a computer, hence all the important emails you get from me!

ASCMC Phase II: Making the Transition

A lot has changed since we came into office in March: Kravis Center, the Ath 2.0, and the super-cool new Dean Eric. Those were expected changes, but a special election was not. ASCMC is still in transition mode with a new Webmaster, a new SLC Chair, and a new Executive Secretary on the way. Thankfully, PaiPai (yes I call him that) has done incredible work with Senate and your Social Chairs have planned amazing events in the meantime, but I’m telling you right now: ASCMC is just getting started. We’re aiming to be more than awesome parties and events. In the following sections, I’ll talk about our current and future projects to maintain traditions, throw great events, but also take CMC to new depths of leadership.

Quality Events As promised in our ASCMC Letter to the Students, we have already began discussion and planning of events for this semester and the spring. After a nice, long ASCMC brainstorming session, you can expect the usual favorites: an epic Monte Carlo, White Party, and Wedding Party. Throw in a new winter party, a focus on bringing small live music acts, with a few more surprises and you get an AMAZING YEAR. Event-planning is what we’re best known for, so we’re going to bring it BIGGER and BETTER this year. To execute certain events well will take some synergy, but I’m getting ahead of myself here!

Serving YOU - Engagement and Communication

If you missed the ASCMC Sunday Sundae Snack, don’t worry, we’ll be bringing you at least a couple more Sunday Snacks before our term ends in March. Serving and representing CMC students is the reason we exist! Have ideas for an affordable snack other than sundaes? Come to my Mao Pow Wow every Friday from 11AM-1PM at the Appleby Picnic Tables and voice your ideas and other thoughts! While I can’t guarantee the fruition of every idea, we can always talk it out and figure out what can be done. I want you to be heard and assured that your input matters. My ongoing project is to address the concerns brought to me at Mao Pow Wow. One of my goals for ASCMC is to be more accessible to students. In addition to more engaging events like Sunday Snack, the following are projects we’ve undertaken to improve student body communication:

- A newsletter is in the works, which will also incorporate a list of weekly club events.

- We are uploading our minutes regularly, so you can stay informed about our meetings.

- Improvements to our websites and social networking are of high priority.

- Any other suggestions? Please share them below in the anonymous suggestion box! (Be nice...)

SYNERGY After reading too much Case in Point, I can tell you that synergy is the beauty of combined forces working towards one mission. ASCMC is one of several groups on campus working towards improving student life and planning events. Without teamwork and cooperation with the Dean of Students Office, College Programming Board, RAs, and the brand-new Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), certain ideas and initiatives may not reach their full potential. Assisting the RAs in promoting the incredible Ath Speaker Series, “Shifting Perceptions: Celebrating the Spectrum of Leadership”, is an example of partnerships that ASCMC has already taken. The new College Programming Board also gets a shout-out as we are discussing collaboration on upcoming events. So much CMC community love!

Social and Fiscal Responsibility ASCMC, along with the groups previously mentioned, is taking a new direction this year in promoting leadership at CMC. Key areas like social inclusion, community service, sustainability, and party-rocking responsibility (I’ll explain), are all aspects of CMC life that need more attention. While ASCMC’s job isn’t to focus solely on these areas, we are making efforts to be part of these conversations in order to enrich the student body. Whether it be helping the RAs with the speaker series or giving input into events held by the Center for Civic Engagement, the goal is for the student body to lead in as many ways as possible.

On the topic of sustainability and party-rocking responsibility, SPEAR, CCE, and the RAs are among those taking the initiative to promote the use of new Red Cup Recycling Bins. ASCMC is right on board with this movement for sustainable partying. Cups aside, did you know that ASCMC accrued over $12,000 worth of damages this past school year? This is a sad bill to pay when we know that money could fund another Senate, 3 White Parties, 15 clubs, or 40 Hub quizzes. More importantly, it is extra non-overtime work that building attendants have to complete. Will Brown, in a Forum article to appear later this week, will elaborate more on this devastating cost, but the point is for you to all be aware that a little cleaning up goes a long way. Let’s work together this year on minimizing our physical damage to CMC and maximizing our dollar! ASCMC doesn’t have nearly as big of a budget in comparison to ASPC or other colleges across the nation, so it’s our challenge to do more with every penny.

Whew, thanks for taking the time to read this! Despite the 1000+ words I’ve used up, everything I’ve said is only a brief synopsis of what ASCMC is doing this year. I know my job is to oversee every facet of ASCMC and its responsibilities, but you can play a bigger role in making things happen. If you’re interested in campus life, please find ways to get involved, stay informed through the Forum, and insist on being heard. ASCMC cannot make decisions without a clear idea of what you, the student body, want. Send us emails, write in the box below, and dare to make a difference.

P.S. Mao Zedong isn’t actually my great-great-great-uncle. Gotcha!