Response to Josh Siegel; Discussion of Police Records from September 27th

My response to Josh Siegel's long comment in the comment section of a previous post. (As an aside, you'll notice that unlike him at The Forum, I didn't censor him, nor did I edit within his comments as he does for my arguments on The Forum. Instead, I put up a response. Siegel has had his friends attack me in the comment section of this blog, apparently, instead of actually addressing the arguments I've laid forth.)

One of the arguments Siegel made in the comment section is the "unfortunate alternative" is that if we did not have a J-Board hearing, we would have to settle these things in court rooms. Eric Yingling, actually, was completely exonerated in the eyes of the police department and hence in the court of law. Why did there need to be a J-Board in the first place?

Just to remind everyone, Dean Huang initially declined to J-Board Eric, and it was only after Bingham invoked his right to an intercampus J-Board that Yingling was brought in.


Siegel's argument about going to the courts is a fair one. In fact, as I've already pointed out and Siegel would know if he attended today's hearing (which he did) the Bingham family did press charges against Yingling around 4:00 PM on September 27th. (Copies of the police record reports are attached below. Many thanks go to David Daleiden for scanning them for me.) The police declined to pursue the matter further and wrote "negative on prosecution" in their report. It would seem that self-defense is still a legal defense in America and that the prosecution standards for the actual courts are a lot harder than the sham ASCMC J-Board.

Remember that Bingham was discharged from Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center fully fourteen and half hours before at around 1:30 AM. The officer who gave Ben Judge, CMC '09, the copies of the records told him that it's very odd that people wait that long before coming out of the hospital to press charges. He all but suggested that someone may have put Bingham up to it.

I'll be checking on Monday with Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center to see the extent of the damage done to Bingham by Yingling.

Eric Yingling Convicted On Lower Count After Siegel's Questioning; School Board Member Beth Bingham's Statement on Underaged Drinking

Josh Siegel, CMC '10, should be summarily dismissed as a J-Board member after his conduct at the Eric Yingling's CMC '12 show trial. Yingling given probation after he punched Teddy Bingham PO '11 one time after he lunged at him. Bingham was stealing memorial stones from the dedication field when Yingling approached him. For a complete write up, please see this blog post.

During the proceedings Siegel asked several questions that call into question his role as a J-Board participant. The first question he asked was whether or not Yingling could have used less force than he used. Yingling, according to the testimony of Teddy Bingham, hit him only once so how much less force could have been used isn't evidently clear. Apparently Siegel doesn't know anything about muscle memory -- that is, when you're trained to punch, it's not that easy to moderate your force, especially after only one punch.

Later, though, Siegel did something truly reprehensible. After all the questions had been asked of what actually transpired between Bingham and Yingling, and one of Bingham's witnessed had been discredited, and it had come to light that the police had completely dismissed Bingham and his family's attempt to file a police report, Siegel asked Yingling how old he was and what his prior occupation was before coming to Claremont McKenna. Yingling replied that he was 23 and that he had served in the Marine Corps.

Typically, this type of question would be struck from the record in a court room as it is irrelevant to the proceedings, but Siegel asked it nonetheless. Sam Corcos CMC '11 and Chris Hasbrouck CMC '08 (super senior) later told me that they suspect Siegel wanted to use Yingling's service in the Marine Corps against him and to argue that Yingling used disproportionate force in subduing him.

If true, this is particularly odious as Bingham during his final remarks asked that nothing be done to Yingling by Claremont McKenna. In a typical court room, when the plaintiff doesn't want to press charges, the charges are dismissed.

Siegel, remember, is not elected by the student body and yet still exercises some control over other students on the J-Board. According to the ASCMC website, Siegel serves as the "campus organizations chair." Why does he retain the privilege of interrogating his fellow students?
If we're not going to have an actual juror system, then we should demand the right to elect our own representatives as other schools do it.

According to several students in attendance, Bingham will not be brought before a J-Board at Pomona, despite drinking underage (a misdemeanor) and stealing memorial stones (a felony). Remember that he also lunged at Yingling. Under ASCMC's zero tolerance policy, Yingling couldn't claim self-defense. There is no self-defense exception to the zero tolerance policy.

I later spoke with Bingham's mother, Beth Bingham, who is a school board member, about the revelation during the proceedings that her son had been drinking underage. We spoke via telephone. She didn't answer the question about filing a police report, but said that her son has been taken to the hospital and given stitches. I then asked if we could expect a statement from her as a school board member on her son's underage drinking, she said that it's a "reality that high school and college students drink," and she didn't elaborate further.

Hardly the kind of statement you'd expect from a school board member.

The Stag Hen: A Welcome Addition to the 5C Blogosphere

The Stag Hen is everything that the Forum wishes it were: funny, irreverent, and well written. Think The Onion for the 5Cs. Transfer student Carl Peaslee CMC'11 is one funny guy.

Here are some of the latest articles to grace its well-laid out website.

• Pomona's 5 Year Plan to Remove Its Stick from Its Ass
• Scripps's Students Advised to Sleep Around During the Housing Crisis
• Scripps's Student Exposes Herself to Older Man.
  

There's a lot more and much of it is hilarious.

Bradley on B-Rock Tributes

In the Washington Post last week on all the rap songs that are likely to come out of an Obama presidency,

"One of the brilliant things about hip-hop is that it's something that can comment almost in real time," said Adam Bradley, an assistant professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College in California who is writing a book on hip-hop. "There's obvious joy and celebration, but also a sense of historic moment, and almost a tragicomic awareness of what it took to get to this point," he said.

Yes, a professor of literature did comment on "one of" the "brilliant" things about hip-hop. Hurray for tenure!