Pomona's 47 Fixation Question

I've heard all these legends about Pomona and the number 47.

Any truth to any of them whatsoever?

Claremont Colleges Host (Ex)-Convicts' Theatre Program

Yes, you read that right. I do not make this stuff up. I just report it to you.

Notable nuggets from this article include the following:

Activists say employers will dismiss an applicant immediately, without considering their job skills, when the applicant is an ex-convict.

It's a form of discrimination that activists say is intolerable. But through a theatrical project that started this week, the women's studies program at the Claremont Colleges aims to help.

On Tuesday, students, ex-convicts and business owners held the first of five workshops at Pomona College where participants are working to write and rehearse a play about employment issues faced by female ex-convicts.

...

"I think people are willing to blame individuals for the problem - the individual women who have been incarcerated - and are less willing to look at the forces and the discrimination that has created this system," said Megan Hanley, a Scripps College senior in the course.

"I think what we're hoping to do with this project is to reveal the individual story, and also to debunk the myth that it's one woman's fault."

So now it's not your fault if you're a criminal? If it's discrimination to not want to be around former prisoners, I must be some kind of bigot.

Given that it's not even second semester and we've had one stabbing, several break-ins, and fights, does anyone else think that bringing former convicts to college is a bad idea?

Several weeks ago we were confronted with a proposal by Pomona Student President Elspeth Hilton (Pomona '08) to ban Sodexho for their "practices." One such practice is Sodexho's catering of prisons. Apparently someone missed Ms. Hilton's memo. At Pomona, they not only have convicts' food, but they watch (ex-)convicts play.

Zoom! Zoom! in my School-Funded Honda Civic

Flexcar is finally here, and not without much fanfare. There are, of course, only four of them. So Vroom Vroom, but not so fast. They'll be a waiting list for sure.

The Student Life reports that

Flexcar allows students to use a car for $7 an hour or $49 per day. Included in those fees are the car, gas, insurance, vehicle maintenance, and a parking permit. Additionally, some of the money students pay to use Flexcar may be reimbursed by the Pomona College Internship Program if used to travel to an off-campus internship or job.

To apply for a Flexcar, a student needs to have a valid U.S. driver’s license and a clean driving record if they are under 21. Students age 21 or over may have no more than two moving violations within two years, and may not have an accident or major ticket violation on their record, including driving under the influence. Applications for using a Flexcar can be filled out online, and students under 21 must submit a parental consent form. Flexcars are also available to faculty and staff.

How do we feel about that? College kids getting to drive a car that isn't theirs for under $49.00 a day? Do people treat rental cars as nicely as they do their own cars? Obviously not.

Oh, what I wouldn't give to see the car crash rate for Flexcars!

But, hey all the state schools are doing it, so why shouldn't the 5-C consortium?

The first school to use Flexcars was the University of Washington, which has 13 cars on campus. Portland State University, the University of Florida, Emory University, UC San Diego, and The Ohio State University are also Flexcar users.