THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLYTHE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE SINCE 1893

www.oxyweekly.comFriday, October 21, 2011 Volume 132, Issue 6

NEWS ................................... 3OPINIONS ............................ 4LETTERS .............................. 5

FEATURES ............................ 6A&E ...................................... 8SPORTS ................................. 10

ThE OccIdENTAL WEEkLy IS REcycLAbLE.

A team of student organizers have been building a network on campus in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street Together movement. The Youth Coalition for Community Action (YCCA), Student Labor Action Coali-tion (SLAC), Black Student Alliance (BSA), and MEChA*ALAS together with a new student group, Students Oc-cupy L.A., are working together to get Occidental students involved in Oc-cupy Together, a coast-to-coast move-ment spurred by the Occupy Wall Street camp-in that began in New York City on Sept. 17.

“We knew that this movement was bigger than one club so we needed to start organizing as if it were bigger than one club,” YCCA President Guido Girgenti (sophomore) said.

Organizers from YCCA and Stu-dents Occupy L.A. pitched a tent in the Occupy camp outside City Hall and stayed overnight the Friday through Monday of Fall Break. At an open meeting last Thursday, the group pro-vided public transportation directions to City Hall and posted their own contact information so that Occidental students who arrived late could find their peers.Their meeting inspired about ten Occi-dental students to camp out at Occupy Friday night, with numbers dwindling as the break went on.

On Saturday, about another 30 Oc-cidental students joined the occupiers

in a march of “the 99%” from Pershing Square to City Hall. The march was part of Global Day of Action, a worldwide coordination of marches for economic justice. The marchers aired grievances of all kinds on hand-made signs, voic-ing their malcontent with corporate greed, outrage at the richest one percent of the population and cries for econom-ic justice.

On Oct. 9 Jack Moreau (junior) and Joe Dingman (junior), the students behind Students Occupy LA (perhaps you’ve seen their tent in front of the MarketPlace), began hosting meetings every Sunday through Thursday at 9:30 p.m. in front of the library. Dingman estimates that they draw about 30 at-tendees to each meeting. The pair call their gatherings a “General Assembly,”

after the organizing body at the heart of the Los Angeles Occupation. Moreau and Dingman attend the GA meetings at City Hall every night and report back to their own General Assembly on cam-pus.

This coalition of student groups also organized an on-campus walkout last Thursday. More than 50 students met between Johnson and Fowler at 1:30

p.m. for the nation-wide class walkout organized by Occupy Colleges, a na-tional network operating in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street.

Girgenti and his fellow organizers plan to work more with Occupy Colleg-es in the future and intend to build a sus-tained nation-wide network of student

Three demonstrators for a local car-penters union held a banner that read “Shame on Jonathan Veitch,” in front of Alumni Circle on Tuesday, Oct. 18, protesting unfair labor practices in the Swan Hall renovation. In distributed materials, Carpenter Local 944 alleges that a subcontractor involved in Swan

Hall’s renovation, Temecula Valley Drywall, refuses to pay its employees area standard wages. The flier also dis-plays an image of a rat, equating the subcontractor with the animal.

“A rat is a contractor that does not pay all of its employees area standard wages, including either providing or making payments for healthcare and pension funds,” the handout explains.

The flier then accuses Occidental of

Ten Students Occupy L.A., Thirty More March in SupporthALEy GRAy

Giovanna Bettoli

Protesters, including Occidental students, fill the streets to show their support for the “99%” during an Occupy LA demonstration targeting corporate greed.

OccUPy LA cONTINUES ON PAGE 3

Union Accuses College of Unfair Labor Practices

chELSEA kELLOGG

LAbOR cONTINUES ON PAGE 3

Courtesy of ryan stronG

Demonstrators hide behind their protest banner in front of Alumni Circle.

supporting the company by indirectly hiring it to do work on campus. The union claims that Occidental is contrib-uting to what it calls “The Desecration of the American Way of Life.”

“[We believe] that Occidental Col-lege has an obligation to the community to see that area labor standards are met for construction work at all their proj-ects, including any future work,” distri-bution materials from Local 944 read. “[Occidental] should not be allowed to insulate themselves behind ‘indepen-dent’ contractors.”

President Veitch could not be reached for comment, but the College released a statement through Director of Communications Jim Tranquada.

“Unfortunately, the College has been caught in the middle of a dispute between the Ontario-based Carpenters Union Local 944 and one of the 30 sub-contractors hired by Tovey/Shultz Con-struction to work on the Swan Hall proj-ect,” Tranquada said. “The protesters at the main entrance to campus were hired by Local 944 to make the disagreement between the local and the subcontractor

3.54 percent of last spring’s student body did not return to the college this year, marking the highest attrition rate since 2003, according to the college.

This rate is nearly double last fall’s 1.88 percent rate. From 2003-2007, the rate had held constant in the neighbor-hood of 2.9 percent and since 2007 has consistently decreased. Registrar Victor Egitto, however, does not see the larger rate as abnormal.

“We usually lose about 50 to 60 stu-dents a semester,” Egitto said. “This one might be a higher than normal attrition rate. But some leave with one course left, or transfer or take a couple of years off and come back. We generally have about 78 percent of students graduating in four years, which is pretty good.”

Egitto explained that the attrition rate is not just a measure of transfers out of the college but rather of students who have ceased to attend, whether for

financial reasons, medical concerns or job opportunities. “It includes transfers, drop-outs, people taking a few years off, all sorts of things,” Egitto said. “We just keep track of how many people have left, not exactly the number of transfers. We like to know why people leave, and we’re in the process of figuring that out now.”

There was also a drop in the trans-fer-in rate this semester. Usually around 50 new students are admitted per fall se-mester, but the number fell this year to 40. In spite of the drop, Egitto is confi-dent that transfers will remain an impor-tant part of the Occidental community.

“We take transfer students pretty consistently, it’s good to have them. Even when we don’t need them, we try to take them,” he said.

Nevertheless, there has been a de-creasing incoming transfer rate. Associ-ate Dean of Admission Pati Pineiro-

TRANSFER cONTINUES ON PAGE 3

Retention Rates Drop As More Students LeaveRILEy kImbALL

SPECIAL: LETTER FROM THE EDITOR - PAGE 5

THIS WEEK

IN THE NEWSAT OXY IN L.A. NATIONALLY GLOBALLY

REPORTS

2 - October 21, 2011

ThisNewspaper

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wriTTeN aNd Compiled By damiaN meNdieTa

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY

Four Occidental students’ overnight campout in Switzer Falls, Altadena on Saturday went awry after two of the students went missing Sunday morn-ing, according to Eagle Rock Patch. A successful search-and-rescue operation, led by Cresenta Valley’s sheriff force, tracked down the missing students who were uninjured.

Eagle Rock Patch reported that the group of Occidental students was plan-ning to camp at Switzer Falls, until two of the friends preferred to return to their vehicle and sleep. By the next morn-ing, the two friends in the vehicle at-tempted to locate the rest of their group but were unsuccessful. An emergency call around 9 a.m. was placed to the local Bear Canyon ranger station. The missing students were located safely at 10:10 a.m.

In 1998, Occidental student Nathan Cook, 20, went missing during a moun-tain biking trip to nearby Mt. Wilson in La Cañada. His body was found wedged underneath a tree in Hahamonga Water-shed Park. Officials stated that the local mountain trails were extremely slippery due to rain and that Nathan may have been the victim of a flash flood.

In the fifth Republican presidential debate since Labor Day, candidates met on Tuesday night at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Key can-didates, Gov. Rick Perry (T-Rep) and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, clashed with the other five candidates about topics ranging from illegal immigration, federal healthcare and the failing American economy, ac-cording to the New York Times.

Tensions were high as Perry ac-cused Romney of hiring undocumented laborers. Romney also came under fire for his healthcare bill in Massachusetts.

Perry has been accused of being too-heated in his debates, often stum-bling when cornered about his Texas legislation that aided illegal immigrant families and students. Romney has also come under scrutiny after speculation that his Massachusetts health-care bill was the foundation upon which so-called “Obamacare” was based on.

The debate did not present one overall winner as candidates sparred with each other. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich ended the debate by pro-claiming that there should be less bick-ering among the candidates.

In China, a 2-year-old girl was struck by a vehicle and then ignored by over a dozen bystanders, accord-ing to the Washington Post. The infant, Yueyue, remains critically injured and in a coma. The driver responsible didn’t stop.

A set of laws were recently put into effect by Chinese legislatures, requiring extra caution on the part of good samar-itans, which sometimes call for them to ignore victims. These laws were passed due to many situations where people helped victims and ended up being sued by the victims themselves. When au-thorities would arrive, they would rea-son that those good samaritans helping victims were in fact the ones who hurt the victims in the first place. In an effort to avoid similar scenarios from recur-ring, the new law deems it necessary to wait until trained medical personnel arrive on scene.

Some believe these new laws dem-onstrate a loss of morals in an increas-ingly materialistic Chinese society.

The driver responsible for Yueyue’s injuries stated it would have cost him more to stop than it would to keep go-ing.

A new California law requires pub-lic schools to begin teaching LGBT topics from kindergarten to grade 12 ac-cording to the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Unified schools are currently implementing LGBT teachings into the school curriculum. A large cheer of celebration has been heard among L.A. Unified’s LGBT clubs, and many students as well as teachers are thrilled about the new law.

There is some uncertainty among school officials and teachers as to when to begin the transition of discuss-ing same-sex marriage in class. New textbooks that include the subject are unlikely to play a major role as the dis-trict estimates such books will arrive no sooner than 2019. Some schools have already begun implementing the new law. Kindergarten classrooms are including books about homosexual ani-mals, examples about families with two mothers or two fathers and other similar activities.

Some parents have withdrawn their children from public schools, and some teachers refuse to teach the matter. However, the new California law con-tinues to be implemented rapidly.

Community Health Today, 10/21 - 12:30 p.m.JSC Young

Join the Community Health Engagement Meet and Greet to discuss Oxy’s Community Health Engagement planning grant.

INFORMATION:Student Events Calendar

Dia De Los Muertos Saturday, 10/22 - 12:00 p.m.Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Go to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s 12th annual event of “multi-cultural meditation and rituals of the dead.”

INFORMATION:hollywoodforever.ticketfly.com

Tom MorelloTuesday, 10/25 - 8:00 p.m.The Troubadour

Listen to Rage Against the Ma-chine’s guitarist perform solo at the famous West Hollywood club.

INFORMATION:www.troubadour.com

Gold PandaMonday, 10/24 - 8:30 p.m.The Echoplex

Check out Gold Panda with fel-low musicians Jonti, Touche, and DJ Sodapop at Echopark’s the Echoplex.

INFORMATION:www.attheecho.com

DanceTheaterSaturday, 10/22 - 8:00 p.m.Thorne Hall

Occidental dance instructor Fran-cisco Martinez’s DanceTheater celebrates its 30th anniversary with a one-night-only ballet. INFORMATION:Student Events Calendar

moNday,oCToBer 10

3:08 PMHSC

Adjunct Professor reports he was exposed to a mist of carbon disulfide when a filter ruptured in the Astrophysics Lab. No injuries reported. Incident report submitted.

TUesday, oCToBer 11

8:03 PMSouth Bird Rd.

Observed 5 male subjects (locals) video taping stunts on their skateboards. Officers contacted the subjects, who were warned regarding private property and escorted off campus without incident.

wedNesday, oCToBer 12

5:50 PMAGC Rd. & Gilman Rd.

Received delayed report that a student’s parked vehicle was struck by a driver who made a three way turn, then fled the scene without leaving a note on the parked car. Investigation revealed the driver was an Oxy student who when contacted, agreed to compensate the registered owner for the cost of the repairs. Incident report filed.

saTUrday,oCToBer 15

11:00 AMJSC

Campus dining staff reports evidence of rodents in the area.

5:22 PMEmmons Rd.

Student requests advice regarding problems with his dental work (possibly a crown). Pro Staff notified.

sUNday, oCToBer 16

2:27 AM4600 Eagle Rock Blvd.

Student reports a male bicyclist had been struck by a vehicle and was in need of medical attention. Responding Officers contacted the subject (local) who declined medical attention. Officers contacted the subject’s girlfriend who agreed to pick him up.

11:32 PMAlumni Circle

RHOPO Officers stopped two under-aged students who were in possession of alcohol. Officers warned students and had them pour out alcohol without incident.

10:34 PMWylie Hall

Student reports her ex-boyfriend is still on campus and refusing to leave from in front of her Hall. Responding Officers checked the Hall and contacted several individuals who matched the description provided, but were unable to locate the subject.

8:03 PMSouth Bird Rd.

Student reports that her friend’s ex-boyfriend (former student) was on campus attempting to get her into his vehicle. Responding Officers contacted the subjects who stated they mutually agreed to meet.

5:05 PM2037 Escarpa Dr.

Neighbor reports (3) Oxy students sitting in a parked vehicle smoking marijuana. Incident report filed.

1:05 PMOff Campus

Student driver of Oxy rental Van reports she accidently struck a gate as she exited a garage, causing damages to the gate, a pole and the left side of the Van. No injuries to the driver or occupants (Oxy students). Incident report submitted.

3:57 PMHerrick Chapel

Campus Dining Staff requests medical assistance for an elderly female guest who attended a wedding ceremony, that tripped and fell down several stairs as she walked down the northeast interior stairwell.

8:15 PMNewcomb Hall

Cleaning Services staff reports a male student sleeping on the floor in the men’s restroom on the 2nd floor. Incident report submitted.

activists for economic justice. “The organizational response

from students has to have a nation-wide students has to have a nation-wide scale to really link up with this movement,” Girgenti said. “In the coming weeks student organizers are going to be figuring out if we can connect to national student or-ganizational frameworks.”

Thus, the function of the group’s Fall Break stay at City Hall was not just to get Occidental students down to the protest. The real purpose of the group’s stay, which they made clear in their meeting last Thursday, was to make connections with other student groups involved in the Oc-cupy movement.

According to Girgenti, network-ing over the break went well. The group plans to hold a post-Fall Break conference to debrief the long-weekend camp-out and to make plans for the future of Occi-dental student involvement in Oc-cupy.

Not all Occidental students, however, agree with the Occupy Movement.

Politics major Andrea Kippur (senior), aside from noting the hy-pocrisy she sees in wealthy students at a posh liberal arts school rallying behind “the 99%,” takes issue with the decentralization and lack of a re-fined goal of the Occupy movement.

“I think one of the main flaws with this ‘occupy’ movement is that it does not seem to have a direct momentum heading towards a goal. The posters range from gay rights to women’s rights to anti-capitalist manifestos. However, it doesn’t seem like many of these “occupi-

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY

Occidental’s Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) sparked school-wide awareness last

week with its annual Coming Out Week, enjoying greater participant turnout than that of previous years, according to QSA secretary Olivia Reed (junior). The club’s leadership team, led by President Samuel Wylie (sophomore), promoted greater un-

derstanding and awareness of issues that members of the LGBTQ com-munity face.

The week’s events included an ally-panel Monday night, a Com-ing Out Booth Tuesday in the quad, a social mixer later that night in the Center for Gender Equity (CGE), an ice-cream social on Wednesday night and a dinner outside Collins’ House on Thursday. The Tuesday event, titled Speak Out, took place on National Coming Out Day. Or-

ganizers set up a stage with a closet in the quad. A multi-colored bal-loon rainbow adorned the stage as students opened the door and ‘came out’ to the cheers of spectat-ing students. Coming Out Week at Occidental was well-received with school-wide support from students. Compared to similar celebrations at other institutions, some students re-gard Occidental’s Coming Out Week as an overall better experience.

“I feel like Occidental has a huge

QSA’s Coming Out Week Colors the Quad

damiaN meNdieTa

October 21, 2011 - 3

Student Body Largest in History

Goodenberger explained that incoming slots are competitive because, unlike many colleges, Occidental offers finan-cial aid to transfers. During the spring, admissions typically admits about 10 transfers, but this year the college may use transfers as an opportunity to refill the class, according to Egitto.

“We very well might admit more students than normal in the spring se-mester to make up for this.”

Pineiro-Goodenberger explained that decisions regarding transfers come from recommendations made by the Enrollment Planning Committee.

“After the census, the Enrollment Planning Committee has some projec-tions for student body size,” Pineiro-Goodenberger said. “All different de-partments, financial aid, admissions, everyone, looks at these and adds their own considerations. Based on all that, the Enrollment Planning Committee makes a decision about the direction of the school in the next years. This in-cludes admissions and transfers.”

Despite the high attrition rate, the student population is larger than ever before, with 2,123 students. The fall 2011 census showed growth of 15 per-cent since 2008. Pinero Goodenberger and others in the Office of Admissions attribute this growth to Obama’s elec-tion. Prior to 2008, the student body hovered between 1800 and 1900 for nearly a decade.

TraNsfer

from froNT page

Giovanna Bettoli

Sarah Doyel (sophomore) shows off her support for the LGBTQ community during a coming out celebration in the Quad.

SLAC Looks Into ProtestlaBor

from froNT page

public. We hope the two sides will be able to resolve the situation quickly.”

The protesters refused to answer questions or give their names. The proj-ect manager for the Tovey/Shultz reno-vation of Swan Hall, Ryan Tovey, did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Temecula Valley Drywall. Stu-dents are divided on the College’s re-sponsibility towards contractors. Histo-ry major Annie Lehman (senior) heard about the protest secondhand.

“I agree that if we hire people for jobs we ought to make sure the college is being socially responsible in choos-ing what companies to work with. Ev-erything that is outsourced from the col-lege, so to speak, should comply with consistent social justice standards,” Lehman said. The protesters may have taken the wrong tact with their sign. “I guess I’m confused what they are call-ing on President Veitch to do,” she said.

Student Labor Action Committee (SLAC) executive board member Ala-na Murphy (junior) released a statement on behalf of SLAC regarding the labor dispute.

“As of now, SLAC is looking into this situation. The protesters are not Oxy students and they are in no way affiliated with the school or SLAC. That said, SLAC is always interested in supporting worker’s rights. We plan on further investigating this situation and if we find that there is a genuine injustice, we would be happy to support their ef-forts.”

Students Discuss Merits of Occupy L.A. MovementoCCUpy lafrom froNT page

amount of support,” transfer student and Programming Chair of QSA Jer-emiah Wang (junior) said. “Whereas at Boston College we’re really going against the grain of Catholic Institu-tion by doing any events, over here it was super awesome to see lots of students come to events. It was very inspiring.”

This year QSA focused on ad-dressing biphobia, a form of dis-crimination towards bisexual people, according to QSA Vice President Lonnie McGown (sophomore).

McGown and other participants of Coming Out Week said bisexual people feel pressured by heterosex-ual and homosexual groups to “pick one or the other” in terms of their sexual orientation and are the targets of ignorant commentary.

“They get the inappropriate com-ments like you can have twice as much sex,” McGown said. “One of our big focuses is not just tolerance for everybody but also acceptance and understanding so we can get rid of different phobias and prejudices and assumptions.”

QSA member Luis Orozco (first-year) thinks Occidental is doing a good job getting rid of some of those phobias and prejudices. Orozco said that he could never come out so free-ly at his high school.

“In college I can be gay and open about it,” Orozco said. “But in high school I was proud to be gay but I wouldn’t tell people. I would if they asked me.”

Giovanna Bettoli

Students march with their signs for Occupy L.A. One sign that read “Every morning, 99% wake up on the wrong side of capitalism.”

ers” even understand the political environment that allowed for cor-porations to make so much money,” Kippur said.

Mimi Hitzemann (sophomore), also an Occidental student and orga-nizer for YCCA, isn’t bothered by the lack of specific goals in the Oc-cupy protests.

“At this point Occupy isn’t a movement per se, it’s about waking up the country, shifting the frame-work from ‘greed is good’ to love and justice,” she said.

“I really hope Oxy students start thinking historically,” Guido said. “I think we should not and we can-not lose this opportunity to build a powerful movement around issues of justice and equity because if we lose this opportunity and we don’t grab this moment in history, we might enter a period where there are no job prospects for young gradu-ates, no relief for crushing student loan debt and the channels for dem-ocratic protest will continue to be eaten away by corporate money.”

Giovanna Bettoli

Protesters march through downtown voicing their opposition to corporate influence.

OPINIONS4 - October 21, 2011 THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY

For Students and Local Residents, Respect is a Two-Way StreetNeighbors should expect parties, but students should expect complaints

Sam Byrne

Obama’s Pot Policy Not The Shake-Up People ThinkGriffin mead

Whenever an individual moves into a new neigh-borhood, it is his or her re-

sponsibility to understand both the ad-vantages and disadvantages of living in the residential community before buying or renting a home. Residents who choose to move into Eagle Rock must learn about Occidental’s atmo-sphere in order to fully gauge whether or not they are prepared to live in a college town. Just as it is customary for the new homeowners to educate themselves regarding the neighbor-hood’s crime rate, nearby schools and local elected officials, prospec-tive Eagle Rock residents also need to research the college’s policies. Prior to moving into Eagle Rock, residents must assume the downfalls of living in a college community that prohibits most forms of alcohol consumption and socializing on campus.

Eagle Rock is a college town; Oc-cidental was established before the residential area, and therefore resi-dents of the town should expect that students will inevitably lead lifestyles that are different from their own. It is unfair for the locals to express outrage about students drinking and walking around Eagle Rock on weekends when they should have known long before moving that many upperclass-men rent houses in the area.

The most salient example this year are the complaints from a resi-dent on Avenue 47, who has recently expressed concerns about students coming in and out of Jungle House, a student-rented home that has typi-cally housed male athletes over the past years. Jungle House has acquired the reputation of a party-house, which has frustrated Rick Taylor, a neigh-bor who has warned the college of

his plans to present the issue to city council.

“I am here to cut down the jun-gle,” Taylor threatened in a letter to current Jungle House residents, after complaining to Dean Avery that too many students flood Avenue 47 on weekends in search of social gather-ings. While this may in fact irritate Taylor, promises of dismantling a home are not particularly neighborly. Past Jungle House residents have felt threatened by Taylor’s behavior and confrontational nature, leaving little opportunity for reconciliation. The residents of Jungle House, and of houses throughout the neighbor-hood, cannot control who walks down their street or who tries to attend their parties, making complaints like Tay-lor’s not only discourteous but also unfair.

Students enrolled at Occidental have to live either on campus or in the immediate area to ease their com-mute; they have little choice in the matter. Taylor made the choice to live in Eagle Rock next to a large two-story home rented by students in their 20s, and should have accepted the drawbacks before moving in.

Residents must also realize the benefits of living in close proxim-ity with the college. Eagle Rock is patrolled every hour of the day by campus safety, a beneficial service that Occidental students pay for with tuition. It’s easy for residents to call Campus Safety on students, but stu-dents cannot hold community resi-dents accountable for disruptive be-havior.

Furthermore, President Veitch has made building a harmonious commu-nity a priority since he took office in 2009. The college has implemented several initiatives to aid the commu-nity’s youth and make Eagle Rock a cleaner and safer environment. When

While local dispensaries and medical marijuana users have decried recent federal investigations of Cali-fornia’s medical marijuana dispen-saries as an unwarranted crackdown and a reversal of President Obama’s 2009 marijuana policy, they have the story wrong. To say that the govern-ment is cracking down on potentially illegal medical marijuana stores is a problematic description of a routine and legally warranted IRS audit to which any other non-profit or com-mercial business is subject.

This victimized interpretation of events is ludicrous and displays a remarkable degree of willful igno-rance on Obama’s medical marijuana policy, which clearly states a federal tolerance for non-profit dispensaries. One need only look back at recent history to learn that the Administra-tion’s policy is hardly a deviation from its original stated intent.

Medical marijuana use was legal-ized under the California’s Compas-sionate Use Act, an 1996 act with

the benevolent intention to provide a legal means for suffering patients to access a drug that could prove useful. Since the California Senate passed Bill 420 in 2003, which offi-cially established the state’s medical marijuana program, for-profit dis-pensaries have blossomed through-out the state.

The resulting convenience store model of marijuana sales has seri-ous problems, not least of which is the fact that local, state and federal laws consider most dispensaries il-legal. According to Andre Birotte, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, “While California law permits col-lective cultivation of marijuana in limited circumstances, it does not al-low commercial distribution through the store-front model we see across California.”

This doesn’t mean dispensaries can’t legally exist; it merely stipu-lates that they can’t turn a profit. Those that choose to skirt the law should expect any scrutiny they re-ceive. Unsurprisingly, there have been reports of medical marijuana dispensaries purposely altering their

books, violating federal law by hid-ing illegitimate profits. The New Age Healing company in San Jose, Cali-fornia was raided in May of 2011, af-ter investigators unearthed two led-gers, one with a loss of $100,000 and another with a profit of $200,000. As this case suggests, federal inves-tigators are not prosecuting just any medical marijuana provider but rath-er those collectives and distributors who take advantage of marijuana laws to generate a profit.

Even if those facts were not so clear, dispensaries and users need only look close to home to see that the federal government’s stance on medical marijuana is hardly a de-parture from California’s marijuana policy. In a Department of Justice memo authored by Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, the govern-ment states that “pursuit of (drug control priorities) should not focus federal resources . . . on individuals whose actions are in clear and un-ambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.” However, when there is “. . . evidence of money

laundering activities and/or financial gains or excessive amounts of cash inconsistent with purported compli-ance with state or local laws,” the federal government is fully permit-ted to step in.

Clearly, $200,000 in cash should be considered excessive. The Obama administration has stated from the get-go that they will not tolerate what Mr. Birotte calls the “Costco-Wal-Mart” style of marijuana dis-tribution. If the federal government discovers that the collective has been abiding by state laws and op-erating as a non-profit organization, the federal government will not do a thing.

If the books turn up otherwise, though, then it’s a whole different story. At that point, all the dispensa-ries can claim in protest is that they have “only” engaged in a drug run-ning operation that created easy ac-cessibility to a level one narcotic.

All this is to say that the purported crackdown on Southern California dispensaries of late is nothing more than the Obama administration liv-ing up to its promise to crack down

on dispensaries operating contrary to existing law and not on legitimate individual users. The President’s stance on the issue of medical mari-juana, as detailed in 2009, clearly states that the Department of Jus-tice will continue to investigate and prosecute for-profit providers, while looking past caretaker-patient deal-ings.

The uproar from dispensary own-ers and advocacy groups over “the Fed crackdown on medical marijua-na,” which is really only the federal government investigating and clos-ing shadily-operated and murkily-financed dispensaries, is misleading in nature. Dispensaries operating as the law has always dictated should expect no no threat of investigation, state or federal. When dispensa-ries start living up to their promise of helping (or presuming to help) patients without financial gain, the Obama administration will leave such operations in peace.

Griffin Mead is an undeclared sophomore. He can be reached at gmead@oxy.edu.

Mallory ryan

locals choose to move to Eagle Rock, they need to appreciate the benefits of living in a college town while recog-nizing that part of this give-and-take relationship means that students will use Eagle Rock socially on week-ends.

The Deans suggest that students need to consider themselves part of the larger Eagle Rock community in order to ensure their weekend behav-ior remains respectful. While it is im-portant to consider the living environ-ment beyond campus boundaries, it is also important for residents to realize that by moving into the area, they in

turn have to consider themselves a part of the Occidental community. It is common, for example, to walk down an Eagle Rock street and hear the constant barking of dogs locked up in their front yards.

There have even been reports of attacks on students by locally owned dogs. This is certainly an annoyance to Occidental students, if not a safety issue, that bears similar severity to the noise complaints of residents.

This significant divide between the residential and college commu-nity clearly needs improvement. Resi-dents must remember that they made

the decision to live in a college town and therefore should accept both the advantages and the drawbacks of their decision. Immediately reporting students to Campus Safety or sending threatening letters is not a logical tac-tic for creating a harmonious relation-ship.

Only an open dialogue between the administration, students and an-gered residents would begin to im-prove community relations.

Sam Byrne is an undeclared soph-omore. She can be reached at sby-rne@oxy.edu.

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY

LETTERS

October 21, 2011 - 5

Steve Jobs is a Genius, Not Generousalex Zeldin

Steve Jobs was a genius. Search Google News for Steve Jobs and that sentence will appear in some form in nearly every article. There is no doubt he changed the land-scape of the tech industry and by extension the world during his time as CEO of Apple.

But just like the primary stock-holders of companies such as Mi-crosoft, Wal-Mart and eBay, Ap-ple’s primary stockholders have a moral responsibility to share their fortunes with those in need. Steve Jobs unfortunately fell well short in this regard.

The chief dogs of the afore-mentioned companies all became philanthropists. Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has retired from Microsoft and moved on to form The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Bill and Melin-da Gates Foundation is the larg-est transparently operated private foundation in the world and has an endowment of almost $40 bil-lion.

Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton was widely criticized for his lack of charitable work during his lifetime, but in the end gave away almost all his fortune and set up endowments for churches across the country. Jeff Skoll, one of the founders of eBay,

donated $250 million dollars worth of eBay stock to set up the Skoll Foundation which provides grants to charities across the world.

Jobs, on the other hand, was not a philanthropist. He shut down Apple’s charitable branch when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy in the 90s and never brought it back, even after the com-pany ascended to great financial heights.

Additionally, according to the New York Times, Jobs refused, for reasons unknown, to join the Giv-ing Pledge, the organization found-ed by Gates and Warren Buffett to persuade the nation’s wealthiest families to pledge to give away at least half their fortunes.

There is speculation that Jobs donated anonymously, but until hard facts are shown, he should be subject to the same criticism other billionaires have faced.Walton, though he waited until 69 to do it, set up the Walton Family Founda-tion. Before the foundation’s estab-lishment, he faced intense criticism for greediness. Buffet too faced criticism before joining the Giving Pledge.

It seems to this author that be-cause Apple enjoys widespread popularity where Wal-Mart does not, consumers have come to as-sume the best in Jobs. These as-sumptions are rooted not in fact but

rather in a religious-like devotion to Apple products. Just as many religious fanatics do not question the grace of God, many Apple con-sumers do not question the grace of Jobs.

For all his technological and entrepreneurial accomplishments, Jobs cannot match Bill Gates’ dedi-cation to solving problems across the globe. Any man worth $8.3 bil-lion, who doesn’t donate a dollar to charity should be subject to inqui-ry, yet Jobs was able to fly under the radar in ways other billionaires could not.

That said, this article was typed on an Apple computer. Steve Jobs certainly made the world a better place in many regards. Neverthe-less, for years, millionaires and bil-lionares have managed to be both innovative and charitable at the same time.

Both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were some of the richest men in the world. Both lived large while millions suffered and continue to suffer from poverty. But it is Gates and not Jobs who has a record of doing something about it. Jobs may have been a genius, but Gates is a philanthropist, and that is one title Jobs will never have.

Alex Zeldin is a senior AHVA major. He can be reached at zeld-in@oxy.edu.

Dear Editor,

After reading two articles in The Weekly this week, the Occupy Los Angeles article and the Rick Taylor article, I have come to the conclu-sion that there is a recurring psycho-logical problem with Americans. We rant and rave, yell and scream for someone else to solve our problems. Take Mr. Taylor for example. He has raised issues with off-campus par-ties. Now he has a perfect right to complain. He even has the right to be condescending and outright insulting to the student body. However, he has come to the table with two options: change it or I go to the police. Similarly, the people who are occupying Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., etc. are making a very loud noise. They have identi-fied that they have a problem with the financial system in America and

demand that banks change their practices, do not foreclose on homes, and that the government create more jobs. What these two incidents have in common is that they have yet to give a viable option for either the col-lege, the government, or Wall Street to pursue. There is this tendency for Americans to blow up and go to war without having all their information correct or a plan of action once in a war. Mr. Taylor makes a good point but has clearly forgotten that he chose the location he lives in. I do not know where he went to college but he should have known that there was a high likelihood of partying that would happen in and around a col-lege area. Also, by using threaten-ing and condescending language in his letter he has forced the college to take a retaliatory and defensive stance rather than come to the table with workable options. As far as those occupying the

cities of the United States, calling bankers like my father greedy, mon-ey-grubbing, lazy, amoral people does not endear me to them or their cause. Furthermore, the majority of them do not understand the basics of economics or a capitalist system. It is interesting that the economics ma-jors are not the main ones participat-ing in these demonstrations. This is indicative of the relative ignorance of the participants. Like Mr. Taylor, the demonstrators have come to the table with no viable options or ideas. Americans currently have a lot of complaints and are happy to voice them however they do not have any answers. Americans seem to be say-ing, “I am mad at X,Y and Z and someone else needs to figure out how to fix it.” I feel that we as Americans need to take a step back from all of our shouting, educate ourselves as to the causes of certain problems and situations, educate ourselves about past options that worked and failed and come back to the table with new

and innovative options, instead of yelling at some official to figure it out for us.

Drew Hamilton(Senior, AHVA)

Dear Editor,

Has the Office of the Regis-trar ever considered ending their sado-masochistic practice of paper-pushing and transferring to a more modern, online approach to their business? I know I’m not the only student who spends hours nearly every week running around school trying to catch professors for a pre-cious signature of approval for credit from abroad programs or summer school, waivers, or to add or drop

classes. When I decided to drop my 2-unit Afro-Caribbean Dance class after two weeks, I had to get the sig-nature of the instructor, who never even learned my name, and my advi-sor, who is the chair of our depart-ment and has much better things to do than sign forms regarding dance classes. This is a huge waste of my time, as a student with two jobs and multiple activities on campus. It is a waste of professors’ time and a waste of paper. For simple schedule ad-justments and credit authorizations, why doesn’t the Registrar allow professors to simply send an email? I feel like I am practically living in the Franz Kafka story, “Before the Law,” and the Registrar’s Office is the doorkeeper. Can we please up-date this relic of bureaucracy for the 21st century? I think it would make everyone’s busy lives a little easier.

Morgan Flake(Senior, UEP)

Do Better or Do NothingSince my last letter to the Occi-

dental community, published in this semester’s first issue of The Weekly, campus has been buzzing with activ-ity. I’ve heard more and more students discussing the issues currently affect-ing our daily lives, many of which have appeared in various editions of this newspaper in the past two months. Between concerns about Residential Education and Housing Services, to the administration’s intensified crackdown on off-campus parties and marijuana usage, to the involvement of students in protests against banks downtown, Occidental’s students are becoming more political.

It is clear that this year, our student body is taking an interest in campus and national politics, and getting clos-er to a point where we are truly rais-ing our voices in a politically effective manner. That said, we are far from a place where we can truly call our-selves a politically dynamic campus, as some would like to portray us, and its crucial that we do better. To under-stand this struggle between action and apathy, one needs look no further than the Occupy movement and its foray onto Occidental’s campus.

Since my last letter, the Occupy movement has grown into a world-wide political phenomenon active in most American urban centers and ma-jor cities around the world. It was only a matter of time before this movement reached college campuses, and sure enough, a few weeks ago, a sole tent was pitched on the Quad in support of Occupy L.A. According to those “occupying” Occidental College, our student body represents the official student wing of Occupy L.A. Evalu-ating the movement’s progress since the tent was pitched (I’m currently sit-ting on the quad, and the tent itself is nowhere to be seen), our school’s re-sponse to this calling has been nothing short of pathetic.

For instance, last Friday morn-ing, Oxy was buzzing with the news that a campus-wide walkout would take place at 1:30pm, coinciding with the start of afternoon classes. Going into my midterm a few minutes late, I stopped to checkout the event, and found myself disappointed (but by no

means surprised) to see about 50 stu-dents moseying about, unsure of what they were doing, looking more like a lost group of first-years than an orga-nized political coalition. According to the online newspaper Eastsider L.A., all the students had gone to class fif-teen minutes later. Some walkout.

The one-tent “occupation” of the Quad and the failed walkout are a microcosm of the larger issue at hand- the sheer level of apathy shown by the student body over the course of the past few years. There was once a time when class would not have interfered with the student body’s dedication to a political cause, as in the sixties when this campus could pass for a smaller version of UC Berkeley. Or in the eighties when students staged a sit-in of the AGC Administration Build-ing demanding that Oxy divest from companies doing business with the apartheid-era South African govern-ment. The time has now come when the student body must come together and make a choice: either we do this right, or we don’t do it at all. The suc-cess of the Occupy movement, or any grassroots political movement for that matter, is contingent on the involve-ment of cohesive groups willing to go the distance to make the demands of the masses heard. “Occupy Oxy” is far from that.

This choice we must make is far from a simple one. It is possible that 2011 will represent an important mo-ment in our college’s history. Stu-dents, members of the administration, the Eagle Rock and Highland Park communities, and the world at large, if they should take a moment to look, will see the choice we make now as the one that defined the identity of our student body for years to come. Either we will emerge as a student body de-voted to a political cause, or as one that decided that the stereotypical image of the posh liberal arts school watching the world pass by from the convenient location atop its ivory tower was acceptable enough. The Occupy movement will leave its place in the history books, but will we?

Dean DeChiaroEditor-in-Chief

Dean DeChiaro

letter from the editor

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

But mostly, stay hungry.

have to eat.”Because few students would eat

at the Marketplace if it were open on Saturdays and because all pri-vate events are required to use Oc-cidental’s in-house catering service, renting out the Marketplace brings a substantial amount of revenue to the school. According to Munoz, this money does not stay in the campus dining budget but rather contributes to Occidental’s general funds.

“It doesn’t just stay in this depart-ment,” Munoz said. “If the college

didn’t have that money, it would have to make up for it in some other way. If right now we were going to change what we did, there would be an eco-nomic impact.” At about 13 percent, catering is the second biggest source of revenue for Campus Dining, com-pared to 70 percent that comes from student meal plans.

“I like to say that students are get-ting the benefit in more ways than one. They are getting the benefit of the funds for college refurbishment and programs. And if they themselves need a space to have a beautiful in-door event in the future, that’s where it is,” Munoz said.

Associate Director of Campus Dining Judy Runyon believes another thing students can gain from the Mar-ketplace’s early closure is a chance to try something different.

“We really tried to promote eating at the other facilities because we do have three facilities to eat at. It’s nice to give students variety and make sure they see other places,” Runyon said. “I know if I were a student, I would enjoy the change of pace. I think it’s a positive; it forces people out of the box to try other options.”

The first and most popular option is the Tiger Cooler, which features a menu including pizza, burgers, sandwiches, salads, sushi, a plethora of desserts and various packaged

snacks.However, compared to the Mar-

ketplace, the Cooler offers fewer choices and much of the menu is what many students consider junk food.

“It’s mostly not healthy food un-less you get a boxed salad. There re-ally aren’t that many options,” Kate Handley (first-year) said.

The Cooler limits its menu on Sat-urday due to a smaller kitchen staff and more customers. According to Starec, the Cooler’s staff on Saturday evenings is less than half of what it is on a weekday, leaving the workload to one supervisor, two cooks and one cashier.

“To keep them from being over-whelmed by the full menu, we lim-ited the choices to the very basic sandwiches, the burgers, the grilled cheese: things that don’t require a lot

of detail,” Starec said.In addition to working with a

smaller staff on Saturday night, the Cooler also has to accommodate the crowds that trickle over from on-campus events like sports games and programming events.

“We have to take the whole picture into account; it’s not just about feed-ing the students, we also have to be aware of events that are taking place on campus,” Starec said. “Whether it be student events, performances on campus or athletic events, all of that

plays into what we offer and how we offer it.”

To try to make up for the limited menu, the Cooler offers weekend specials such as baked pasta and hot wings that they cannot offer during the week. Although the specials give students more options than usual, compared to the Marketplace the range and quality of the food is lim-ited. Whereas on any given night the Marketplace offers vegan, gluten-free and organic options, the Cooler’s spe-cials are typically grubby diner fare.

“I want something healthier and more nourishing than that,” Liz Wells (sophomore) said.

Until three years ago, the Cooler was the only dining facility open on Saturday nights. As the student body increased in recent years, Munoz said it was obvious that the Cooler would

no longer be sufficient to satisfy Sat-urday dining demand. To diffuse din-ner traffic and give students more options, Campus Dining introduced Saturday night dinners at Rangeview Hall in 2008.

Now in its third year, the service at Rangeview operates from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and serves a buffet-style meal for $11.

According to Munoz, an average of about 120 students eat at Ran-geview each week. Although the meal is now a popular alternative to

the Cooler, many find $11 too high a price.

“The Rangeview dinner is re-ally expensive, and since I’m on meal plan D spending $11 on a meal is a little too much for every single week,” Larkin Grant (senior) said. “It’s fun to have a buffet, but it’s pret-ty expensive for one plate of food. At the homestyle station at the Market-place, one plate of food is $4.50 but at Rangeview it’s $11.”

Grant, who has been a Resident Advisor to first-years for three years, believes the high price and lack of awareness about Rangeview’s Satur-day services prevent more students from going.

“A lot of first-years don’t know about it yet because it’s in a dorm, and it’s not advertised all that much,” Grant said. “They actually started it

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY6 - October 21, 2011 THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY

FEATURESSaturday Night Deprived

With trays in hand, students spill out from the nightly Marketplace rush onto

Branca Patio six days a week. On Saturday evenings, the students are conspicuously absent, replaced with well-groomed adults in sharp suits and dresses. On tables, flowers, cloth napkins and elegant silverware take the place of plastic trays. There are flashing colored lights and tantaliz-ing plates of food and no trace of col-lege life to be found.

Each Saturday at 2 p.m., the Marketplace closes early, leaving scant options for students who want an on-campus dinner or—for those who stumbled down to “breakfast” at noon—a late lunch. While parties and other events frequently occupy the space during this time, many students are left wondering why this vital campus facility closes on Satur-days and what goes on when students aren’t allowed inside.

According to Associate Vice Pres-ident for Hospitality Services Amy Munoz, Saturday nights have always been the slowest night for campus dining and therefore the most op-portune time to use dining facilities for events. Outside events generate a large source of revenue for the col-lege, and as the largest dining option on campus, the Marketplace serves as the venue for most events.

“The main reason the Market-place closes early on Saturday is to give a large space of availability for student events,” Tiger Cooler man-ager Robert Starec said. “It’s the only facility that’s large enough to accommodate the attendance that’s expected for those events, so that is why every Saturday is blocked off, in case there are student events that need to be programmed.”

Such events include sports ban-quets and other special occasions like Winter Formal and Martin Lu-ther King Jr. Challenge Day. In total, these student-oriented events use Gresham Dining Hall, the main seat-ing room in the Marketplace, about six times a year, according to Munoz. For the remainder of Saturdays, the space is open to the public for private events.

“Beyond the dates reserved for college events, we fill in the other Saturdays with mostly weddings, but there are also Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, Quinceañeras and anniversary par-ties,” Munoz said.

Between outside rentals and student events, the Marketplace is booked about 38 weeks of the year. On unbooked Saturdays, the Mar-ketplace remains closed. Munoz said closing the Marketplace even when it is not being used helps prevent con-fusion for students.

“I almost think opening it some Saturdays would be more disrup-tive than keeping it closed. Students know that every Saturday night these are the options that are available, instead of having to wonder, ‘Is the Marketplace open? Why are they not open?’ and all of that,” Munoz said. “Consistency is a good thing. You’re not always wondering where you

Rachel StobeR

When weddings take over the Marketplace, many students say “I don’t”

Ian agrImIs

Occidental’s campus is frequently used for private events on Saturdays. Here, a bridal party congregates outside of Thorne Hall before a reception on Branca Patio.

October 21, 2011 - 7

while I was at Oxy, and it’s nice to have a choice between two eating fa-cilities, but it’s still a really expensive alternative.”

While Occidental students eat at Rangeview Hall or the Cooler on Sat-urday nights, newlyweds celebrate their union elsewhere on campus. Weddings are one of the most popu-lar reasons that outside groups rent on-campus loca-tions. The size of the weddings starts at about 100 people and caps off at the Johnson Student Center’s maxi-mum capacity of 284. For the cer-emony, roughly a third use Her-rick while anoth-er third choose an outdoor site. The remaining one-third of cou-ples have the service at a church off campus and come to Occidental for the reception.

In selecting an outdoor site, Mu-noz said people are very creative and have utilized areas from the mu-sic quad to the Collins Admissions House to the Olive Grove.

“There are a lot of hidden gems on campus,” said Assistant Dean of Admission Laura Tokuza-Arenstein ‘05, who married her husband this past summer in the courtyard of Booth Hall.

When it comes to the reception, choices are limited to locations prox-imate to a kitchen. “Oxy’s catering is not in the business of moving food,” Munoz said.

Most receptions take place in Gresham Dining Hall, on Branca Pa-tio or use a combination of the two, but one might hardly recognize the facilities once they have been cleared of their usual tables and chairs and ornamented with various decora-tions.

“I don’t know if people have seen Branca Patio when they put up all these flower balls and lights, but they make it really pretty,” Marah Brag-don (junior), who has worked as a banquet assistant, said.

Although customers pay a fee for the facilities as well as additional charges for labor, tables and chairs, about 80 percent of total revenue comes from catering charges. Ac-cording to Munoz, Occidental re-quires its clients to use their cater-ing service to ensure that event run smoothly.

“Dealing with caterers who don’t know the facility can be difficult for all the logistics and for providing the foundation you need for a caterer to work on,” Munoz said. “Also, we simply don’t allow anyone else in our kitchen—it’s our office, so to speak. It’s not as safe, not as practical and in a lot of ways it makes it more ex-pensive for the people who would

be paying for it too.”

The price of an Occidental wedding works out to around $50 to $80 per person, a cost both Munoz and Tokuza-Aren-stein agree is more than rea-sonable.

“Wedd ings can become extremely ex-pensive, and

Occidental offers excellent accom-modations for very reasonable pric-es,” Tokuza-Arenstein said.

Although many schools limit rental privileges to current students, staff and alumni, Occidental has no such policy. Nevertheless, most of the people that come to Occidental to wed have a connection to the col-lege. Tokuza-Arenstein is a prime example.

“We wanted to have the wedding at Oxy because it’s a special place for us both. We met here, we both went to school here, my dad went to school here, I work here. It made sense to us in many ways. Plus, Oxy is a beauti-ful place,” Tokuza-Arenstein said.

Munoz said most people who select Occidental for their wedding ceremony or reception have a sen-timental reason. “If you’re going to come to a college campus instead of a country club or a hotel or a wed-ding site, you come here because you’re connected here. If they’re not connected to Oxy, they either came to a wedding here and really liked it or they live in the neighborhood and grew up around Oxy,” Munoz said. “We’re a place for special events for people at all stages of their lives.”

No matter how special these events are, student sentiment may al-ways remain a little unfavorable.

“Love is more important than food, but on a small scale, it’s really annoying,” Grant said. “I’d rather have people celebrate their love there than get to eat a meal. But on the oth-er hand, the Marketplace for a wed-ding? Really?”

For the Angel City Derby Girls, derby is everything and everything else is just what pays the bills.

“Once you get past the bullshit of life, it’s nice that someone’s got your back. When shit starts blowin’ up, you have 70 women who won’t judge you, who say ‘Hey, we get it,’” teammate Babyface Nellie said.

Founded in 2006, Angel City Derby Girls play from January to November at the Veterans Audito-rium in Culver City. After a sudden resurgence in interest in women’s roller derby in 2004, the sport ex-panded rapidly across the country. Angel City is one of 124 official teams in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) and the only team in Los Angeles.

Derby is remarkable for the ca-maraderie it fosters among team-mates. “When I first started, my confidence was on the ground,” Recruiting Coach Rachel Shanks, who balances derby between a job and a full load of classes at Pasade-na City College, said. “These girls just lift you right up.”

Dominated by women, roller derby has been an emerging sport for the past 10 years, though its roots date back to 1885. Marathon derby races were popular during the Great Depression; one famous race held at Madison Square Garden was the equivalent distance from New York to Los Angeles around a rink. The rules of the game evolved as the sport grew in popularity in the 1940s, but its mid-century hey-day was short-lived. As interest waned in the 1970s, most leagues were disbanded and the sport was all but forgotten.

In 2002, a group of women in Austin revived the sport by form-ing an amateur all-girls team. The league’s success encouraged other

females to start their own leagues as well. In 2004, the WFTDA was born.

Derby girls go by their skater name, both on and off the track. These aliases give the sport a sense of humor and are often either a al-lusion to the player’s name or a unique element of their personality.

“I really like cookies, and I’m also gay,” Angel City racer Snick-Her Doodle said of her moniker.

Team members said other play-ers have been christened by their teammates in the last minutes of a car ride to a tournament, such as Breakfast, whose player number, aptly, is “8:00 a.m.”

Wacky skater names go hand in hand with unconventional skat-ing attire, which usually consists of knee high socks, tights, short-shorts and a shirt bearing the skat-er’s alias and number. Derby style is also tinged with punk, as seen in the duct tape, rips and tears in tights and tops.

“It’s a sport where women look like women,” Coach Rachel Rot-ten said. “In the Women’s National Basketball Association, the women basically dress like men, and peo-ple will still see a men’s basketball game before they see a women’s game.”

With flashy posters advertising their upcoming bouts and a virtual monopoly on fast-paced all-wom-en’s sports, the Angel City Derby Girls have earned a loyal following in Los Angeles and no shortage of potential players. Though the game may look straightforward to view-ers, derby involves much more than coordinated roller skating.

The move from novice skater to full-fledged Derby Girl can be grueling, involving two rounds of training and several months of practice.

The first thing a skater learns in “Fresh Meat,” Angel City’s in-troductory course for new recruits,

is how to fall. Falling is inevitable and skaters have to do it safely at a certain speed. “If you can fall cor-rectly, you just take a knee and pop right back up rather than falling behind and becoming a liability to your team,” Coach Rotten said.

After six to eight weeks of Fresh Meat, skaters move on to round two, “Cosmos,” where they learn the fundamentals of competitive derby. Learning the rules of the game can take weeks.

Roller derby rules are set by the WFTDA. Two teams consisting of five skaters each compete, earn-ing points every time their team’s “jammer” (a skater designated by a helmet covered with a large star) passes the opposite team’s “block-ers.” Blockers prevent opposing jammers from passing them, while letting their own jammer through.

Derby is a full-contact sport, and blockers are free to hip-check their opponents, pop them in the chest or the shoulder or employ any number of strategies to keep jammers from breaching the human wall of blockers.

“It doesn’t make any sense for the first two months,” Coach Rot-ten said of the game’s complexity. Once the girls are sufficiently com-fortable on their skates after com-pleting “Cosmos,” they must pass an assessment of skating 25 laps around the rink in five minutes in order to be eligible to be placed on the team.

For successful applicants, the team introduces girls not only to a new kind of sport but also into a family. “It’s mostly girls who were once outsiders or who didn’t al-ways belong,” Coach Rotten said.

“We don’t turn anyone away, no matter their age or their physical abilities. If they can hack it, they’re in,” Coach Shanks said.

This article has appeared on www.campuscircle.com.

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY

Courtesy of Campus DInIng

Life On The Fast Track

Courtesy of angel CIty Derby gIrls

This season, the Angel City Derby Girls’ “A” team, the Hollywood Scarlets, qualified for the WFTDA West Region Playoffs in Portland, Oregon. The West Region is recognized as the most competitive region in the nation.

Inside L.A.’s only women’s roller derby team

lauRa beRtocci

“We wanted to have the wed-ding at Oxy because it’s a spe-cial place for us both. We met here, we both went to school here, my dad went to school here, I work here. It made sense to us in many ways.”

Assistant Dean of Admission Laura Tokuza-Arenstein ‘05

One-third of Occidental’s wedding celebrations take place at the JSC.

ARTS &ENTERTAINMENT

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY8 - October 21, 2011 THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY

ARTS &ENTERTAINMENT

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY8 - October 21, 2011

NataNia Reed

The “Proof ” is in the PrintmakingNorton Simon’s newest exhibit showcases the reemergence of the medium in a new context

The Getty Center-sponsored Pacific Standard Time initia-tive, a collaboration between

more than 60 art institutions across Southern California, celebrates the growth of Los Angeles’ art scene and its establishment as a center of artistic innovation between 1945 and 1980.

The Norton Simon Museum, located near Old Town Pasadena, unveiled its latest exhibits, “Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in South-ern California” and “The Original Print: An Introduction to Printmak-ing in the Postwar Period” on Oct 1.

The collected works of “Proof,” on display until April 2, 2012, doc-ument the expansion of printmak-ing as a fine art form in Los Ange-les as well as throughout Southern California in the latter half of the twentieth century. Artists during this pivotal period applied already established artistic genres to the lithographic process, giving rise to inventive, provocative new artistic expressions.

Printmaking as an art form can capture a variety of artistic identi-ties while incorporating popular artistic traditions. Leonard Ed-mondson’s work “Flying Machine” (1956), for example, employs ab-stract expressionism to the particu-larities of graphic art. The work is colorful and relies on conceptual motifs rather than distinct figures, trademarks of the abstract expres-sionist movement. Characteristics of this movement are also evident in the image’s emotional intensity and anarchic interpretation of art. All of these elements, which are typically attributed to painting, are applied in this instance to printmaking.

Like Edmondson, painter/print-maker John McLaughlin married the printmaking form with his al-ready established artistic tenden-cies, which fall into the minimalist tradition. This union can be seen in “Untitled” from 1963, which con-sists of a black background and three white rectangles. It could eas-ily be placed alongside the works of famous minimalist artists Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich.

Other artists featured in the col-lection explore printmaking as a way of experimenting with multi-ple media. John Baldessari, a prom-inent American conceptual artist, employs photography, graphic art, and in some instances, text in his li-thography. In his work “The Fallen Easel” (1988), which is featured at “Proof,” he printed photographic images on large aluminum pieces that are arranged across one of the walls of the museum.

Baldessari uses photographs with seemingly oppositional subjects, such as an image of a swimming dolphin alongside an image of an extended arm holding a handgun. He has covered parts of the photograph-ic images in brightly colored circles.

Another artist, S. Tracy White, utilizes printmaking in order to conceive new genres of art. “Queer Fruits II” (1969) was created using a photographic negative of a straw-berry that White drew on, exposed onto a photographic plate, inked and ran through the press.

“Proof” accentuates the intricate relationship between printmaking and other forms of art.

A variety of different types of artists embrace the printmaking tra-dition, from film designers, to pho-tographers, to traditional painters. One pertinent example is Roy Lich-tenstein, a leading figure in pop art. His “Modern Head #1” (1970) from his “Modern Head” series is a litho-

Artists like John McLaughlin will have their eclectic collections shown in their Old Town Pasadena exhibit until April 2, 2012.

Giovanna Bettoli

Giovanna BettoliGiovanna Bettoli

graphic work that features Lichten-stein’s traditional bold, bright colors and comic book style. Printmaking also allows for greater collabora-tion between artists across varying mediums. Joseph Mugnaini, whose “Stone Mason” (1953) is exhibited at “Proof,” had a lifelong artistic collaboration with writer Ray Brad-bury, author of “Fahrenheit 451.” Though Mugnaini is typically cred-ited as just an illustrator, his work dabbles in the printmaking realm, as is exhibited at “Proof.”

As a visitor to the museum, Cla-remont resident and Citrus College student Charlotte Nevarez, advo-cates the importance of printmak-

ing and reiterates its ability to cut across different artistic genres. “It is a lesser understood art form, but it is important to have exhibitions like this to show the variety of ar-tistic creativity it allows,” Nevarez said.

The earliest printmaking com-munities arose in Pasadena, so it is only appropriate that the exhibit should be held at the Norton Si-mon. The founding of the Tama-rind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles in 1960 precipitated the establishment of printmaking as a legitimate art form in the west. Founder June Wayne, who has sev-eral art works included in the ex-

hibit, created the workshop in order to provide a place for artists to ex-plore the medium of printmaking.

While the technique was gener-ally rejected by American artists at the time in favor of more accessible modes of art, such as painting or pho-tography, Tamarind’s efforts proved successful. The workshop led to the establishment of this art genre first in Los Angeles and gradually, through word of mouth, to a larger sphere of influence in southern California.

“Proof” is superbly executed and beautifully addresses the le-gitimization of printmaking as a fine art form in Los Angeles and beyond.

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY

Innotvative artists such as John McLaughlin, John Baldessari, and Leonard Edmondson will have their eclectic, experimental collections shown at the Norton Simon’s “Proof” exhibit until April 2, 2012.

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY October 21, 2011 - 9THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY October 21, 2011 - 9

In War-Torn Palestine, Life Barely Even Gives Lemons

CoRdelia KeNNey

OneVoice’s screening of “The Lemon Tree” connects students to the territorial conflict

iaN MaRiaNi

“Ides of March” Indicts Current Election Process

Occidental’s branch of OneVoice screened the award-winning film “Lemon Tree” this past Thursday, Oct. 13, as the first part of the orga-nization’s “Voices from the Middle East” series. In tandem with One-Voice’s goal to reveal the hidden unity between moderate Palestinians and Israelis, “Lemon Tree” illustrates the greater value of human connection over territorial claim.

The club, which has been on campus since 2008, screened the documentary “Budrus” earlier in the semester. Like “Lemon Tree,” the documentary also revolves around the dividing wall between Israel and Pal-estine. However, “Budrus” focused on an actual Palestinian community’s peaceful efforts to resist the imposi-tion of the wall-building while “Lem-on Tree” is a fictional story about one woman peacefully resisting the Israeli army’s orders.

“Since it is a major feature film, it draws a different crowd,” Robbins said. For students less involved or less interested in the finer details of the conflict, screening a fictional drama as opposed to a documentary can al-low the audience to more easily relate to the protagonists.

“Lemon Tree” follows the ficti-tious character Salma Zidane’s at-tempt to defend her grove after the Israeli defense minister declares Zi-dane’s grove a threat to national se-curity. The alleged ease with which it could house terrorists prompts the se-cret service guarding the defense min-ister to order the grove to be chopped down. With the help of her attorney Ziad Daud, Zidane portrays the indi-vidual effort to preserve her family’s past and to confront the imposing Is-raeli army.

The film further provides a hu-man face for the conflict, apparent in a pivotal scene in which Zidane and the defense minister’s wife look at each other through the fencing that blocks off Zidane’s grove. Both wom-en exhibit a sense of loneliness and isolation. Zidane’s children have left home and her husband passed away at a young age. The defense minis-ter’s wife is couped up in her amply guarded fortress while her husband remains in the city for work. Literally on opposite sides of the fence, the two women have more in common than they thought.

These similarities serve as the basis for the OneVoice movement’s platform. OneVoice, an international organization founded in 2002, pro-motes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through extensively trained youth peace ac-tivists. President of OneVoice Ma-rissa Robbins (junior) emphasized the power of the grassroots movement. “It is youth-based and youth-driven,” the history major said. “We want to bring community members in to understand the strength in the number of people who believe in a two-state resolution.”

Screening “Lemon Tree” served as a way to raise campus awareness about OneVoice and to encourage Oc-cidental community members to par-ticipate in the second part. The second aspect of the “Voices from the Middle East” series will include a discussion with Diplomacy and World Affairs Professor Anthony Chase along with a Skype video conference with Israeli and Palestinian youth peace activists. The activists behind OneVoice go on speaking tours across campuses and are at the forefront of this effort to bring resolution to the Israeli-Pales-tinian conflict.

A flier distributed at the screening outlined the movement’s fundamental

The film “Ides of March” begins with a black stage. Standing in front of a draped American flag, a lone, suited figure walks out onto the set of a Democratic Primary debate and begins to sound-check the micro-phone in front of him. Bright-eyed campaign manager Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) counts to 10 before launching into the sound-byte that would later be repeated by Demo-cratic candidate Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney, also the film’s director). “I am not a Cath-olic, I am not an atheist,” Meyers says. “My religion is the Constitu-tion of the United States of Amer-ica.”

This religious rhetoric frames the remainder of the film perfectly. Meyers begins at a level of devotion to Morris akin to that of a political messiah, much to the amusement of his peers. “Oh you really have drunk the Kool Aid haven’t you?” rival campaign manager Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) says, laughing at Meyers’ allegiance to a candidate who, according to Duffy, will inevi-tably show a darker side.

Even so, it is hard to blame Mey-ers. As Morris, Clooney creates the perfect Democratic candidate. Mor-ris has plans, sticks to his convic-

tions, refuses to make backroom deals, is loved by the press and shows true emotion and convic-tion in his speeches. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Morris is grilled about his position on the death pen-alty. After stating his firm opposi-tion to a legal death penalty, Rose asks Morris what he would do if his own wife were killed. “I would find some way . . . to kill him,” Morris says. “But the society must be bet-ter than any one individual.” Mor-ris, it seems, can do no wrong.

But as the foreshadowing sug-gests, Duffy is right, and the re-mainder of the plot centers on

Meyers’ disillusionment with the larger-than-life candidate he previ-ously had been taken with.

Without revealing too much, it is safe to say that Meyers’ disillusion-ment with Morris draws heavily from the recent political memory of the American public, combining the savior complex associated with then-candidate Obama with issues surrounding President Clinton, John Edwards and other recent political scandals of perjury and deceit.

It is a homage that is hard to miss. Some posters of Morris even sport the red and blue contrast made famous from Obama’s “Hope” post-ers. That, effectively, is what makes the movie so appropriate. It pours salt in every old wound in the backs of constituents who supported candidates whose careers are now marred by scandal.

The film is adapted from Beau Willimon’s 2008 play “Farragut North.” Unlike the film, no scene in the play features candidate Morris onstage, his absence allowing each audience member to create his or her own image of their ideal can-

didate for president, thus making the scandal more personal. Even with the omission of this technique, however, Clooney’s charismatic Morris still creates an ideal candi-date that people will hate to see fall, making his crash all the more heart-wrenching.

In addition to his on-screen cha-risma, Clooney follows through as a director fully capable of building a strong script into a message told through the cinema itself. To start,

Clooney builds a stylistic pillar of light around Morris that seemingly chases the candidate. At the twist there is a shift, though, shrouding both the campaign and Morris him-self in shadow, as well as regressing in scenery to back alleyways and restaurant kitchens. This film could lack dialogue and would instill its theme of betrayal regardless.

Morris and Meyers are simulta-neously dragged downward by the backroom arena of politics, guided by veteran mudslingers played by cinema powerhouses Philip Seymour Hoffman, Giamatti and Marisa Tomei. At the end of the film, it is hard to still support any of the characters, and an ambiguous ending leaves questions of whether or not redemption takes place.

“Ides of March” is a timely an-ecdote on American politics, wel-come or not. It creates the image of a candidate that could turn the whole political system around and builds a following behind him both on screen and off.

The optimism shown on-screen, however, is not shared by the audi-ence. They have entered the film as cynics, because the characters on-screen lack the premonition given to the audience by the film’s mar-keting that this candidate, as with his following, will come tumbling down.

“‘Ides of March’ is a timely anecdote on American politics, welcome or not.”

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Screening of “The Lemon Tree” was the first of a series, second of which will include a video conference with peace activists.

Giovanna Bettoli

objective and emphasized the role of the youth leaders. “The movement works to forge consensus for conflict resolution and build human infrastruc-ture capable of mobilizing the people toward a negotiated, comprehensive and permanent agreement,” the flier read. Support has come from Sir Paul McCartney and Tony Blair in addition to numerous Israeli and Palestinian

leaders, including Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas. Currently, 661,455 individuals have signed OneVoice’s mandate, including Palestinians and Israelis.

“Our goal with this screening is to get people excited about speaking with the youth leaders,” Robbins said. Each audience member wrote down a question to ask the youth peace ac-

tivists when they connect with Occi-dental via Skype. Scheduled for early November, part two will also include a Middle-Eastern dinner.

To find out more about the One-Voice Movement at Occidental, con-tact onevoice@oxy.edu. To read the most up-to-date information regarding the international movement, check out www.blog.onevoicemovement.org.

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY10 - October 21, 2011

SPORTS

On game nights, particu-larly during playoffs, jersey clad students pack

common rooms and the screams containing the despair of defeat or ecstasy of victory can be heard far down dormitory hallways. On Oc-cidental’s campus, one can spot students representing teams from Boston to the Bay and everywhere in between.

Just as Occidental’s student body offers an interesting so-cial cross section of the United States, it also offers a varied cross section of passionate sports fans. While the physical displacement from their native fan-bases can at times prove to be a challenge to their fa-naticism, many Occidental stu-dents have maintained a high level of interest and consistent support for the preferred sports teams of their youth. Indeed, though hundreds, or at times, thousands, of miles separate these students from the arenas of hometown heroes, they con-tinue to support in spite of their geographic separation.

For many students, the teams directly from their hometown evoke the stron-gest feelings of support. If the University of Oregon Ducks football team consistently wore the same colors, Nate Sullivan (senior) would bleed them. Born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, Sullivan asserts that he has been a Ducks fan his en-tire life. Sullivan says he went to his first Ducks’ game when he was six or seven years old, but his seminal Duck memory came when he was in middle school. His stepmother, current Vice President for Student Affairs at University of Oregon, got him sideline passes for a game against the University of Southern California (USC).

“The thing I really remember the most is probably the passion and en-

ergy of the players on the sidelines and being astounded at how massive these guys really are. A couple times I almost got run over, probably the scariest thing of my life,” Sullivan said.

The Ducks’ victory that day proved to be an important moment for the success of their football pro-gram and an essential event in mak-ing Sullivan a fan for life.

Since being away from Eugene, where Sullivan said Ducks football is part of community life, the way in

which Sullivan supports the Ducks has changed.

“Being at Occidental and being surrounded by fans with other, and at times hostile, sporting tastes makes me like and respect the Ducks even more. It makes me want to represent them wherever I go,” said Sullivan.

These sentiments get to the core of what it means to be a fan away from home. Lacking a preferred sporting community ignites an in-creased fanaticism born out of defi-ance. Ultimately, rooting for one’s favorite team away from home be-comes a form of nostalgia, connect-ing to an important constant from

growing up. “It’s sad you can’t be a part of

that [Eugene] environment during football season,” he said, “but at the same time it makes you more pas-sionate. Separation makes the heart grow fonder.”

For some fans, the split with their favorite hometown team occurs at the most inconvenient time when they leave for school in August. For Adam DiBenedetto, born and raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, coming to Occidental

means leaving behind his Yankees in the midst of the playoff race.

“Over the summer you watch every day, you follow the division race. When you come out [to Occi-dental] you have to watch the ticker and maybe the occasional game on ESPN. It makes it more difficult to watch and be a fan. It’s my duty,” he said.

Once again, the isolation in terms of fans with a common interest and the difficulty in having media access to one’s team of choice proves to foment a greater sense of team and hometown pride.

As a fan, DiBenedetto faces an-

other specific challenge that comes with being a Yankees fan. The Yan-kees have won 27 World Series since the first World Series was played in 1903. For the sake of comparison, the team with the second most World Series wins, the St. Louis Cardinals, has won 10. This winning tradition, which has been as prominent as ever over the last 15 years, has created enemies nationwide and makes the Yankees the Darth Vader of Major League baseball. This is a reality DiBenedetto faces on campus, par-

ticularly during playoffs in the fall.

“You always have the bullseye on your chest. It’s a weight. Every day, every bad game, everybody is going to try to throw you under the bus. You can’t win the World Series ev-ery year,” he said.

However, thousands of miles of separation and plenty of Yankee naysay-ers do not slow DiBene-detto in his Sisyphean persistence to support the Yankees. “You gotta de-fend your team,” he said. “You can’t let people take cheap shots.”

Unlike Sullivan and DiBenedetto, Dan Singh has the luxury of be-ing close to his favor-ite teams. As a resident

of Downey, California, Singh is a supporter of the Los Angeles area sports teams, the Lakers in particu-lar. While Sullivan and DiBenedetto await nationally televised games, Singh can enjoy daily coverage through local media.

“Sports radio is huge for me,” said Singh. “I am an old man when it comes to that.”

Senior citizen or college student aside, Singh illuminates the fact that being an L.A. sports fan at Occiden-tal does not restrict one’s access to local television and radio broadcasts of live sporting events.

In spite of being within the

boundaries of his favorite sports team’s geographic boundaries, Singh still partakes in some of the plights of the displaced sports fans at Occidental. Like DiBenedetto, Singh supports a team that garners hatred nationwide. The Lakers are one of the most successful NBA franchises of all time and have won five NBA championships in the last 11 years. This kind of success does not come without animosity, espe-cially when coupled with provincial biases towards the city of Los An-geles. Like DiBenedetto, however, Singh remained defiant in the face of contention. “It’s welcomed. I like it, personally,” explained Singh. “Everybody hates the winner.”

On Occidental’s campus, howev-er, Singh has a similar experience to many of the sports fans from out-of-state in that he is not surrounded by like-minded fans. In terms of being an L.A.-based sports fan, Singh felt that directly on campus, it is a “level playing field” because so many stu-dents from out-of-state continue to adamantly support their hometown squads.

The feelings of Sullivan, DiBenedetto and Singh reflect the thoughts of many fans on Occiden-tal’s campus in terms of their dis-connection from their own sporting communities, and their defiance as fans as a product of this disconnec-tion. Sports fans at Occidental are cast into an environment where they are out of their element, every fan is part of a minority group of support-ers due to the regional diversity of the student body.

However, this relative isolation evokes a sense of nostalgia that solidifies one’s convictions in their hometown team. Furthermore, this nostalgia for fans is a way of con-necting with home while being away. Much like Ireland remained the literary center of the universe for James Joyce long after he left the Emerald Isle, so Eugene, Brooklyn or Anywhereville, USA remain the heart of displaced Occidental sports fans.

Divided Hometown Team Loyalties Take a Toll on Sports FansJack McHenry

While Occidental students cheer for fellow Tigers, many maintain unique hometown allegiances.

Courtesy of Dillon tuCker

OXYWEEKLY

.COMON THE WEB THROUGHOUT THE WEEK

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY October 21, 2011 - 11

in the SCIAC in points per game with 13.3 and third in the SCIAC in assists, averaging 3.8 per game. The Tigers are returning 13 players from last year’s roster in addition to two first-years and one transfer.

They look poised to compete for the SCIAC championship yet again. “We have a vision of what it takes to be very competitive, and that vision includes a

daily dose of hard work. Players on our team have high expectations for them-selves individually and for our team collectively.

We understand that in order to be successful we have to play hard, play smart, and play together,” said Coach VanDerveer.

The Tigers season begins Nov. 21 versus Trinity University.

Men’s Swimming

Last year the men’s swimming team had a first-year class of eight, and they helped the team to be the seventh most improved team in Division III. This year, the team returns three seniors—Alex Budig, Zachary Condon and Ri-ley Kimball—along with two juniors and three sophomores. This year, the team brings on another incoming squad of 10. Though the team is still young, it hopes to develop into a dominant force in the SCIAC.

Leading the team will be the new Director of Aquatics and head coach, Shea Manning. Despite being a first-year head coach, Coach Manning is familiar with the SCIAC and Occiden-tal College because he swam at Clare-mont-Mudd-Scripps. Before being an assistant coach in Division I, Manning also helped coach his alma mater to a pair of SCIAC titles. With a talented young group of swimmers and a senior core, Coach Manning hopes that he has similar success here.

“The men come back this season with something to prove. There is a

Winter Sports Prepare for Matches to Start in November

Caroline Chang (sophomore) trains to defend her two breaststroke SCIAC titles.

Men’s Basketball

The Occidental men’s basketball team hopes to rebound from last sea-son. In 2010 the Tigers compiled a 12-13 record, including a 6-8 campaign in the SCIAC. “Rarely have I been more excited about the start of a bas-ketball season. We have everyone back off last year’s team and I think we are all coming into the season with a chip on our shoulders. Nobody was happy about the way last year finished up,” said Coach Brian Newhall. The team is returning the entire roster, which is mostly comprised of sophomores and juniors.

The Tigers have play-makers on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Forward Deshun McCoy (ju-nior) and guard Jack Hanley (senior) were both tied for fifth in the SCIAC in points per game with 13.5 last year. Additionally, forward Jake Copithorne (senior) finished second in the SCIAC with 8.8 rebounds per game.

“We have a great group of guys who work hard everyday to maximize their individual, and our team’s, po-tential. I am very excited to see how good we can be,” said Anahit Aladzh-anyan, the Tigers’ assistant coach. The Tigers have reason to be excited. With all of their players returning, including standout players in the SCIAC, they hope to make last year’s season a dis-tant memory.

The men begin their season Nov. 5 at the Pepperdine Exhibition.

Women’s Basketball

Last year the Occidental women’s basketball team compiled a 19-9 re-cord, including a 12-2 finish in SCIAC play, and they now look to pick up from where they left off. “Our team is young, but experienced. I believe our team is mature. We have great chemis-try and excellent leadership. We com-pete hard and have fun doing so,” said Head Coach Heidi VanDerveer, who is beginning her third year.

The Tigers are led by guard Maken-zie Brandon (junior) who ranked fourth

The year 2011 proved to be a trying time for the NCAA in regard to Division I Football. Nevin Shap-iro, a University of Miami booster, told Yahoo! Sports that he provided thousands of impermissible bene-fits to at least 72 athletes from 2002 through 2010.

The NCAA charged Jim Tressel, the former head football coach of Ohio State University, with per-mitting football student-athletes to participate in intercollegiate athlet-ics while ineligible and failing to comport himself with honesty and integrity.

Both of these charges forced him to resign as head coach and similar sanctions have been dealt to other programs. Most of these re-late to either players or prospective players, who are unable to be com-pensated while enrolled in college

or receive money, gifts, or other forms of incentives by either the schools or boosters.

Because the NFL requires a player to be three years out of high school before being eligible for the NFL draft, a prospective NFL ath-lete has no choice but to enroll in college and forgo earning a living for three years if they want the best chance of making it in. Athletes like former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett, who unsuc-cessfully sued the NFL over this rule, feels this is unfair to poorer athletes who need money and can play at an NFL caliber. He feels that one of three things should happen. Either the NFL should allow top-tier athletes out of high school the chance to play, a different profes-sional league should compete with the NCAA for young players or the NCAA should pay its athletes.

The reason the NCAA does not pay players or allow players to be

compensated from third-parties is two-fold. One is that these athletes are student-athletes and thus are enrolled to receive an education first and play football second. The second is that even if academics came first, financial compensation voids student’s amateur statuses and makes the NCAA a profes-sional league rather than an ama-teur one, and thus it would have to pay taxes.

While the NCAA makes mil-lions of dollars per year, they are technically recognized by the gov-ernment as a non-profit organiza-tion. This raises the question of what the connection is between large-market football programs and higher education.

Many individuals wonder what it is about spending millions of dol-lars on a football team that makes an institution more academic, in light of the fact that many student-athletes on scholarship are not aca-

demically qualified for admittance. What is clear is that football teams can be a huge source of revenue. Certain Division I schools make millions. The student-athletes who are responsible for this revenue re-ceive a bachelor’s degree and play-ers like Clarett do not feel this is a fair trade.

However, the notion that the NFL should adapt its policies be-cause of the NCAA’s lack of pay-ment is dis-jaunt. What was found in the Clarett lawsuit was that play-ers who are below the age of 21 are far more susceptible to become in-jured than if they play against play-ers their own age.

The NCAA cannot pay players and exist in its current form. If there are enough players who would by-pass receiving a college education in order to be compensated finan-cially and there is enough demand to sustain another football league, it appears a window exists for a

developmental professional league to step in. The United Football League (UFL), a second-tier pro-league that Clarett currently plays in, has the same policy as the NFL when it comes to players fresh out of high school. But given that the UFL has lost $100 million over its first two seasons, it needs to make some changes to stay afloat.

With the NCAA serving as a monopoly over high-quality young players and the current scandals that have unfolded, the NCAA is facing pressure to address the mat-ters of compensation for athletes or face the threat of more allegations, more scandals and another league taking away its players.

However with the UFL on the verge of collapse and the NFL not showing any signs of a change in policy, the NCAA is not expected to face any immediate threat of los-ing athletes to any developmental professional football league.

Ohio State star suggests compensation for younger athletesNCAA Faces Serious Competition from UFL

Deshun McCoy (junior) sinks a three-pointer against American University on his way to an All-SCIAC 2010-2011 season.

strong belief among each member of the team that the 7th place finish at the SCIAC Championship was not repre-sentative of the level of talent or dedi-cation of this team. With the return of a strong core of leaders, matched with new talent, the men’s team has the nec-essary ingredients to lead a resurgence on the Conference and NCAA level. Keep an eye on several of those 20-35 year old team records as the men will be eyeing them at the end of the sea-son,” said Coach Manning.

Men’s swimming kicks off their season at the Redlands Pentathlon on Nov. 12.

Women’s Swimming Similar to the men’s team, the

women’s swimming team is dependent on a group of young swimmers and a few seniors to be competitive in SCI-AC. The team finished third last year in the SCIAC, behind Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Redlands, respectively.

Many of the first-years performed very well at SCIAC, including Ju-liet Suess (sophomore) and Caroline Chang (sophomore). Suess won the Women’s 200-yard Freestyle, while Chang won Women’s 100 and 200-yard breaststroke.

Coach Shea Manning hopes to lead this talented group of young swimmers, including seven freshman, to a better record than last year. Though CMS boasted a meet record of 7-0, Occiden-tal was not far behind. The women’s team raced to a 5-2 record. The Tigers, however, will face stiff competition this year as Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands also recorded five wins and two losses.

“The women’s team is energized coming off of the most successful sea-son in recent history. Their third place finish at the SCIAC Conference Meet, dual meet defeat of the University of Redlands and first NCAA qualifier since the 1980’s have the potential to spark continued growth this season. They have the opportunity to solidify themselves as one of the SCIAC’s top teams, while also making strides to-ward becoming a perennial presence at the NCAA meet,” said Coach Man-ning.

The women will join the swim-ming men at the Redlands Pentathlon on Nov. 12.

Sant kuMar & JereMy SHapiro

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.COM

SPORTS IN BRIEF

SCOREBOARDFootball Volleyball

UPCOMING UPCOMINGUPCOMING UPCOMING

(3-2 overall, 2-1 SCIAC)

Oct. 22: Versus Redlands, 7 p.m.

Oct. 15:42-35 win over Pomona

(14-7 overall, 7-2 SCIAC)

Oct. 21: Versus Cal Lutheran, 7:30 pm Oct. 22: Versus WC Baptist, 12 p.m.Versus Whittier, 6 p.m.

Oct. 18:3-1 loss to La Sierra3-0 win over Cal Tech

W. Soccer(5-7 overall, 5-4 SCIAC)

M. Water Polo(4-15 overall, 1-1 SCIAC)

Oct. 12:5-1 loss to CMSOct. 15:1-0 win over La VerneOct. 19:1-0 win over Redlands

Oct. 13:20-9 loss to IonaOct. 15:15-8 loss to PomonaOct. 19: 15-14 win over Whittier

Oct. 22:At Pomona, 11 a.m.Oct. 26:At Whittier, 7 p.m.

Oct. 22: At UC San Diego, 11 a.m.At Redlands, 7 p.m.Oct. 26: At Cal Tech, 4 p.m.

After conceding an early goal to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) on Oct. 12, Occidental hoped to enter halftime tied after Marcus Brandford (sophomore) evened things up for the Tigers. CMS scored a goal less than one minute before the halftime whistle blew, making the score 2-1. The Stags hit Occidental for three more goals in the second half to complete a 5-1 rout. Oct. 15 was another lost opportunity as Occidental fell 3-2 at La Verne, a team they defeated earlier in the season. Ben Murray (junior) put Occidental up after 17 minutes, but two goals by La Verne’s Ryan Estrada (sophomore) put the Ti-gers behind. Murray was on the offen-sive again, scoring in the sixty-second minute on a penalty kick. The game was deadlocked at 2-2 until Erek Brown (junior) beat an Occidental defender off the dribble and fired home the winner, sealing the game for the Leopards. On Oct. 19 the men traveled to Redlands for a SCIAC rivalry game. Despite a pair goals scored by Murray, the Tigers could not contain the Bulldogs’ attack and fell by a final score of 6-2. Occiden-tal will next play on Oct. 22 at 11 a.m. when they host Pomona-Pitzer.

Men’s Soccer(4-11 overall, 4-7 SCIAC)

Just hours after CMS beat the men’s team 5-1 at Patterson Field, the Occidental women’s soccer team fell by the same score in Claremont, California. Elissa Minamishin’s (sophomore) tenth goal of the season canceled out the Stags’ shutout less than a minute before halftime, but Occidental went into the break down by a score of 3-1. The second half proved to be just as difficult for the Tigers, as they surrendered two goals to fall by a final margin of 5-1. The Tigers came out hungry against La Verne on Oct. 15 and earned a hard-fought 1-0 home victory. After miss-ing multiple chances to take a lead early in the contest, the women found their breakthrough in the second half. The game winner came from Alex McHenry (senior), whose first goal of the year came at a crucial time in the season. McHenry struck again on Oct. 19 when the Tigers hosted SCIAC-rival Redlands and came out on top 1-0. She scored the lone goal of the contest in the forty-forth min-ute after Bulldog goaltender Linzey Smith (junior) bobbled the ball and gave McHenry an opportunity to put a shot in the back of the net. With this win, Occidental clinched the fourth and final SCIAC playoff spot. The Tigers will take to the pitch again on Oct. 22 at 11 a.m. when they travel to Pomona-Pitzer.

Women’s Soccer(5-7 overall, 5-4 SCIAC)

Volleyball(14-7 overall, 7-2 SCIAC)

Occidental faced tough opposition in the first of a hectic double header Tuesday against visiting La Sierra. The girls came out strong and won the first set 25-19, but fell behind in the next three, losing the game 3-1 to the Golden Eagles. Stephanie Gann (sophomore) led the charge with a team high 15 kills. The loss marked the first time this season the Tigers lost back-to-back games, but the team did not have time to wallow in the loss, as they hopped into vans and less than two hours later were on the court against the CalTech Beavers in Pasadena. This match was the perfect 3-0 win to get the girls’ confidence back up heading into the final stretch of SCIAC play. Gann was once again the kills leader for the Tigers who im-proved to 7-2 in conference. Next up is league leader Cal Lutheran tonight at home in Rush Gymnasium.

Football

In another installment of the longest football rivalry in Southern California on Oct. 15, the Tigers outlasted the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens to keep “The Drum” for the eighth straight year. The game was a back-and-forth high scor-ing affair with both teams recording touchdowns in nearly every quarter. The Tigers found themselves down by one with a mere 1:35 left on the game clock. Quarterback Luke Collis (se-nior) found wide receiver Bobby Phil-lips (senior) on a fade route in the end zone for the game winning score. Wide Receiver Matthew Tuckness (junior) iced the game with a two point conver-sion grab on way to a game high 106 receiving yards. In the 42-35 Tiger vic-tory, Collis completed 26 of 42 passes for 343 yards. Running back Wes Mc-Daniel (junior) had a breakout game, rushing for a team high 110 yards. The win brings Occidental to a 3-2 overall record and 2-1 in the SCIAC. They will take to the gridiron again on Oct. 22 when they host SCIAC-rival Redlands University at 7 p.m.

(3-2 overall, 2-1 SCIAC)

Men’s Cross Country

In a successful race by the men’s cross country team, Eric Kleinsasser (senior) and Colin Smith (first-year) finished first and second, respective-ly, at the SCIAC Multi Dual Meet on Oct. 15. The pair helped the Tigers win the event over the west’s two top ranked teams, CMS and Pomona-Pitzer. The win makes Occidental the favorite headed into the SCIAC Championships, which will be held at Prado Park on Oct. 29 at 9 a.m.

Women’s Cross Country

The women’s cross country team finished third behind CMS (7-0 and first in the nation) and Whittier College (6-1) at the SCIAC Multi-Dual at La Mirada Park on Oct. 15. Sierra Walker (junior) had the best time for the Tigers, coming in fifteenth place with a time of 23 min-utes and 9 seconds. The women will run again at the SCIAC Championships on Oct 29 at 9 a.m. at Prado Park.

Men’s Water Polo(4-15 overall, 1-1 SCIAC)

The Tigers faced a tough Division I opponent for their home opener this year as they took on Iona College on Oct. 13. Iona took an early lead and never looked back, overpowering the Tigers in a 20-9 victory. Joe Reynolds (junior) and Tai McDermott (senior) were two outstanding players for Oc-cidental, both recording hat tricks in the loss. On Oct. 15, the Tigers faced Pomona-Pitzer and competed vigor-ously for most of the first half. Occiden-tal was ultimately undone by a 10-0 run by the Sagehens, falling 15-8 to a tough SCIAC opponent. McDermott led the offensive charge again with four goals, but the team was scoreless in the third quarter and was outscored in the fourth 5-2. McDermott has been an offensive force for the Tigers as of late, scoring 15 goals in the past four games. On Oct. 19, the Tigers took on the Whittier Po-ets. The Tigers jumped to a fast start and held a 7-3 lead going into halftime. The Poets waged a final offensive attack in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers held on for the win, bringing the final score to 15-14. Kyle Reuther (junior) led the goalie game with 14 saves to Whittier’s two while Joe Reynolds (junior) and Jack Stabenfeldt (sophomore) led the scoring with four goals a piece. The Tigers will travel to UC San Diego and Redlands at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., respec-tively, on Oct. 22.

UPCOMING

M. Soccer(4-11 overall, 4-7 SCIAC)

Oct. 12:5-1 loss to CMSOct. 15: 3-2 loss to La VerneOct. 19:6-2 loss to Redlands

Oct. 22:Versus Pomona, 11 a.m.Oct. 26:Versus Whittier, 4 p.m.

croSS country

UPCOMINGOct. 29: SCIAC Championships

Oct. 15:SCIAC Multi-Dual MeetMen: 1st Place FinishWomen: 3rd Place Finish

oliver Field

THE OCCIDENTAL WEEKLY12 - October 21, 2011

Top to Bottom: Tai McDermott (senior) passes during a 6-on-5 opportunity versus Iona; Kevin Coleman (sophomore) lunges for the ball; Head Coach Larry Zubrin speaks strategy with the polo team between quarters.

Photos by MiriaM subbiah