A Few Claremont-y Links

A few quick links from out and about:

• Claremont McKenna ranks in the top twenty for placement with Teach for America. This, depending upon your point of view, is either great news or dreary. I'm convinced that Teach for America is actually quite bad (for students and for educational equity, not for the TFAers who seem to go to great careers notwithstanding) for reasons I explained in this essay.

• I share the sentiments that the Day $200 million gift will be the tail wags the liberal arts dog, but I salute the students and their average compensation package: $76,000 a year, not including bonus. Not bad for the first Master's class. Remember to be rich is to be glorious, at least, insofar as Pam Gann is concerned.

• Speaking of money, Insider Higher Ed featured a rather comprehensive article about how our school is ahead of the technological curve in soliciting donations from its alumni base. They erroneously refer to Lauren Wong (CMC '10) as Laura Wong, but hey, that's par for the course in today's online journalism. The Claremont Conservative certainly isn't immune from typos.

• The oh-so-authoritative Princeton Review tells us that the happiest students are at Brown, not at Claremont McKenna (as was true in years past). I'm not going to quibble with the methodology. No sir, not I. I will just point out that those Brown students are likely happier because 1) they have no real core and thus a poor man's liberal arts education 2) they got into the easiest Ivy and 3) they are in the "good" part of Providence. I could keep this going, but I'd like to retain the few friends I have at Brown.
  

• John David Alexander, former president of Pomona College, died the week past, according to The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Under his stewardship, Pomona's endowment increased from $24 million to $296 million, an increase of more than 10 times. He grew the faculty and built new buildings, too. (But President Gann, please take note: Says an associate, "He was very well informed and had an encyclopedic memory. He remembered details, facts and people." Mr. Alexander, RIP.
  
  
  

A Few Quick Thoughts on Judicial Activism and Homosexual Marriage

Now it seems as if everything I voted for in 2008 has been for naught. With the election of Barack Obama, we had lost the country, but I took some (not a lot) solace in the idea that even California's convoluted ballot initiative process would affirm the people's ability to set laws that govern themselves.

That night, I was more than a little disappointed and, in the company of friends, I said, drunkenly, and somewhat ironically, "Well, at least we stopped homosexual marriage," taking a swig of the darkest liquor I could find. (Out of a love of the English language, I seldom refer to "homosexuals" as "gay" for the simple reason that there strikes me as nothing "gay" about it. Indeed, some of my homosexual friends strike me as positively morose!)

I don't often drink to excess, but I was feeling more than a bit down and out, especially with the revelry going on to celebrate Obama's victory. I hoped I was not living a life of Augustine of Hippo, who gets to watch his civilization crumble around him, but it was hard not to feel that way and it is harder still.

Alas, I was overheard by a homosexual who promptly kicked me out of the senior apartment where I had been conversing. (This homosexual student maintains that I had used stronger words, but he would be mistaken as I never use the f-word, but to refer to cigarettes.)

I left, utterly dejected, and thought of my "friend" who did not so much as stand up for me and who encouraged me to walk home, even though I had left some of my stuff and it was on the other side of campus.

"This is why we lose elections," I muttered to myself, ruefully. "We're unwilling to stand for anything but what is popular."

Now, with the advent of the Walker decision, I see that we shouldn't have bothered voting at all, because you see, tolerance, only works when you come to the outcome others want for you. It's not a state of mind at all; it's being in fashion with the times, man.

My own views on the topic of homosexual marriage for those who are wondering and not inclined to immediately label me a "hater" or a "bigot" or a "Christian fundamentalist," can be found here. (For those also wondering, I do not hate, I am not a bigot, or even a Christian, in the sense that they mean it.)

Honors Government and International Relations Senior Theses Annouced

The 2011 Honors Government/International Relations Majors have been announced.

Alas, I don't know what everyone is majoring in, so some of these are educated guesses. Apologies in advance for any errors.

• Andrew Grimm (Government)
• Angela Estrella-Lemus (International Relations)
• Joseph Clifton (I.R.)
• Emily Coleman (I.R.)
  
• John "Mike" Whatley (Government)
• Helen Pollock (International Relations)
• Linnea Powell (Government)
• Victoria Din (I.R.)
• Elizabeth Schmitz-Robinson (I.R.)
• Katrina Weeks (I.R.)
• Kale Fein (Government)
• Laura Sucheski (Government)
  
• Brittany Taylor (Government)
• Ben Forster (I.R.)
• Annelise Martin (Government)
• Thien-Nga Nguyen (Government)
• Takako Mino (I.R.)
• Charles C. Johnson (Government)