New Term, New Times

This is the official ASCMC blog. During the elections, it became clear that (lack of) transparency is an issue. Did a lot of people like Lupe Fiasco? Yes... and no. Were a lot of people surprised that he was picked and wanted to know the process behind it all? Yes. Thus, this blog is an effort to increase transparency between ASCMC and the rest of the student body. It's a way of making sure the most important people, CMCers, are in the know.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey I sent out. Some changes that are happening now because of your responses:

• A lot of people are dissatisfied with the (un)accessibility of ATMs on campus. Right now, there are Bank of America ATMs at Pomona, and one general gas station-type ATM in the library cafe. As has been proven in the past with student research, it's going to be hard to convince a large bank to put an ATM on our campus because they only put one per every dozen thousands or so of people. So, I've asked our new CFO, Andrew Grimm, to look into the possibility of the school doing direct deposits into student bank accounts for work study or on campus jobs. Andrew's working on it and I'm looking forward to no longer making the trek to the Village for deposits. More on this later from Andrew.
• Madrigals! The powers that be at the Ath are really resistant to the idea of the return of Madrigals for a number of reasons. Exec. Board members are continually meeting with Bonnie Snortum. So far, ASCMC has said that we'll pay for costumes, will help subsidize student tickets, will set up intense amounts of security, and will find a suitable Madrigals choir group for the night. In response, Bonnie Snortum is going to talk to Dave Edwards. She hasn't said no yet (and we're hoping that she won't).
• Aditya Pai, Class of 2013 President, and I have a meeting with the Scripps Treasurer, James Manifold, in order to broker a deal that would allow CMCers to buy parking at Scripps' garage. Unfortunately, Scripps has little incentive to sell parking: They wouldn't make much money off of it and are required by some inane bureaucratic rule, as CMC is as well, to maintain a ratio of 2 students to 1 parking spot. We will continue to work on securing at least some parking space from Scripps.
• I have a meeting with DOS as well as one of the main contractors of Claremont Hall. A trustee suggested building an outdoor grill-type kitchen instead of putting one inside a residence hall. I'm not sure how weather-friendly or CMC-friendly that would be...
• This blog! (And more!)

The blog will be updated periodically. This is a new term with a new Board, and it will be new times. We're excited to serve the student body. 'Til the next e-mail or post, please feel free to contact any Executive Board member with questions or comments. And feel free to contact me with any specific questions regarding anything mentioned above. Good luck with midterms!

(And yes, that is an old picture at the top of this page. It will be updated as soon as Carl Peaslee gets a haircut and is photo ready.)