Scripps College Among World's Most Beautiful College Campuses

To paraphrase a good friend, I'm only posting this so I can comment that I don't think the scenery is all that great. But the architecture is stunning!

I must say that I always get something of a country club feel over at Scripps. That, or a Watership Down-like tyranny.

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Banning Parties is A Good Idea

Apparently, CMC banned Thursday night parties for September.

I predicted that Dean Spellman would do it and I'm kind of please she has now that I am pre-diabetic. I can't drink the booze I pay for through ASCMC.

That ASCMC's silly accounting, which I criticized, is the thing bringing the parties down is well, slightly pleasing too.

I wonder what the effect on GPA will be for the month of September. Natural experiment anyone?

Remembering Judith Merkle

Professor Merkle died yesterday.

President Gann has written up something of an obituary, but she left out the reason I love Prof. Merkle: a clear commitment to academic excellence and an opposition to the fashionable. I direct your attention to her opposition to WASC's diveristy silliness, which President Gann has followed to the letter, often going head over heels to heed the latest university fad.

Merkle's 1993 letter to WASC, by contrast, states what is true:

"There is no clear linkage between educational quality and diversity."

What a strong woman. She will be missed.

RIP Professor Merkle

Dear CMC Community,

It is with great sadness that I share the news that Judith Merkle, a longtime associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, died at her home in Claremont on September 12 after an extended illness, surrounded by her children, Elizabeth and Marlow, and other family and friends.

Professor Merkle joined the faculty of Claremont McKenna College in 1982 in the department of government. She taught in the areas of Organization and Management, Public and Comparative Administration, and American Government. She also joined the faculty of Claremont Graduate School at that time. She had an unusually broad depth of interest – ranging from public administration to Soviet Union political policy. Friends also remember Professor Merkle’s sense of humor and her wonderful storytelling.

In addition to her teaching, Professor Merkle was an accomplished historical novelist having written six novels, including The Oracle Glass, for which she received critical acclaim. Her other novels include The Master of All Desires, Pursuit of the Green Lion, Vision of Light, Water Devil, and The Serpent Garden. She also authored, Management and Ideology: The Legacy of the International Scientific Management Movement, a highly regarded book about Frederick Taylor, originator of the Scientific Management movement.

Professor Merkle received her B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her M.A. from Harvard University. She previously taught at the University of Oregon, where she also served as the director of the Russian and East European Studies Center, and also at the University of California, Berkeley.

Plans for a memorial service are pending, and I will let you know when they are confirmed.

Sincerely,

Pamela B. Gann
President

John Clark on Keeping That Hand Shake Record in WSJ

John-Clark Levin CMC '12 has a rather amusing review in The Wall Street Journal of how he and George Posner won, then lost, then won, then lost the record for longest handshake. Have a look here.