A few things:

-Ross Boomer ‘09 will be Editor-in-Chief of The Forum for AY 2008-2009. He can be reached at rboomer09 @ cmc.

-The Forum will undergo very significant changes in scale and content next year as the ASCMC has finally decided to fund us.

-If you’re bored and want a better understanding of the CMS Water Polo Team, check out this video.

Watch the animation, taken from cmc.edu, edited, and uploaded to Youtube, here.

Claremont McKenna students will soon see major changes in student computing on campus. The first change will be a 24 hour, 21 workstation computer lab on the north side of Phillips Hall.

Ryal Poppa ‘57 (last name pronounced “Poppy”), has offered to pay for the new lab. According to a CMC Alumni Association Newsletter, “Ryal Poppa ’57 surprised fellow alumni, faculty, and staff during reunion weekend when he announced his pledge of $250,000 to help create a new computer lab.”

“He was at alumni weekend chatting with some students who mentioned that there wasn’t enough lab space. He wanted to do something about that, so he decided to give funding for a lab,” says Dr. Cynthia Humes, Chief Technology Officer.

Earlier this semester, Claremont McKenna’s Senior Staff asked Associate Dean of Students and Dean of First Year Students Jennifer Maraña and Director of Student Activities Jim Nauls to investigate the possibility of expanding CMC’s Wilderness Orientation Adventure (W.O.A.). Specifically, Dean Maraña and Mr. Nauls looked into the possibility of providing the W.O.A. experience for every incoming student by making it mandatory and removing the $275 price tag through outside funding—at a cost of over $100,000 per year.Unfortunately, the idea of implementing a mandatory W.O.A.

Alex Caldwell, president of CMC’s Tortugas, lives on the quad side of Green Hall. But as our interview about the new Tortugas, led by Caldwell, Brian Fuerst, Brando McCune, and Owen Thal, continues he points out a fifteen foot long banner stashed in the corner of his room with massive green letters painted on, spelling out “Tortugas” and reminding every fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles symbol. Some of you would remember seeing it hung up in the Green lounge during the Tortugas Saki party, from January, or the more recent Easter TNC.

Last night at approximately midnight, Kevin Arnold, Assistant Director for Leadership Programs at Claremont McKenna’s Kravis Leadership Institute, sent out e-mails to students informing them of their sponsored summer internship decisions. For many students whose proposals were accepted, the e-mail, which listed the stipend at $3,000, came as a slight surprise because the program was advertised as $3,500 per stipend this year.

According to Associate Dean of Students John Markos, CMC plans to offer free weekly laundry service to all students starting next fall, and will make an announcement via press release and e-mail on Wednesday, April 2nd. The program is intended to reduce the school’s emissions (part of the 5C commitment to go “green”) and allow students to spend more time studying and less time worrying about chores like laundry.

Receiving a record a number of applicants– 4,178– Claremont McKenna College officially admitted 799 students for the upcoming school year, with a target class size of 300 to 315. Although the number of total applicants went up by 38 since last year, the acceptance rate also went up from last year’s record 16%, due to the start of CMC’s expansion with the scheduled completion of the new Claremont Hall.  Roughly 500 students also received wait list offers.

Some Links:

Michael Wilner broke the story at the CI:

“At its annual retreat this week in Newport Beach, Claremont McKenna College’s Board of Trustees opted to replace student loans with scholarship grants, joining a small group of elite colleges who can afford to do so. Current students returning to CMC in the Fall will have grants in place of loans, and all packages will henceforth be strictly scholarship and grant money.”

Basically, current loans must still be paid off, but in the future, all aid packages will include no loans, just grants.