Pomona Students' Pot Problem Poses Questions

When Vinay Shah was busted for dealing marijuana, I thought we were seeing the beginnings of a new prohibitions at Pomona College. Unfortunately I was right. The latest story of Pomona's drug problem is a sponsor paying an excessive $125 fine for lighting up with his sponsees.

But here's what's got me the most disturbed. From The Student Life

Although no drugs or drug paraphernalia were found, everyone in the room at the time, including the sponsor, his two sponsees, and a visiting sponsor from another hall, were promptly reported to the administration for disciplinary action.

When the police busts you for drugs, you generally have to be caught with it. What happened here? Did the students rat one another out?

The article doesn't say, but we're left to assume so. How else would they have known that a policy infraction occurred?

In any event, Pomona promises to make it clearer that you aren't supposed to be smoking illegal drugs on campus. Who would have thought? Next they'll say you can't drink alcohol until you are twenty-one. They promise harsher punishments in the future.

But I have been wondering, what if the student were smoking medical marijuana? Would he be subject to the same fine?

A Question of Compensation: Should We Tie Endowment Growth to Compensation?

Pomona's Student Life reports on The Chronicle of Higher Education story that documents the higher and higher compensation packages of Claremont College Presidents Oxtoby and Trombley.

Though I don't support some of the higher perks mentioned in the Chronicle's story-- why exactly should Pomona pay half the tuition for Oxtoby's kid? Can't he pay for that himself?-- I generally support higher compensation as long as its consistent with the market.

Here's Pitzer President on why she thinks these compensation packages have risen:

“You’re beginning to see a generation of presidents retire and more and more presidents are coming in from the private sector, so maybe their expectations are different.”

But here's the rub. Colleges, as much as I would like them to be, aren't the free market. In the free market, CEOs are rewarded for growing their companies with stock options. Why aren't Presidents rewarded for growing their endowments with more compensation? Why aren't they punished for failing to grow that endowment?

Pomona College: Not Rejecting Cigarette Smokers

After I blogged about the Pomona blogger Amanda's intolerance against smokers, just imagine my delight when I saw yesterday's LA Times about Pomona's acceptance policy. Contrary to what Amanda writes, the de facto position is that smoking is not criminal or stupid.

The blogging gods have been most kind.

Pomona College, which now uses the Common Application, asked about disciplinary problems for many years, according to Bruce J. Poch, vice president and dean of admissions. Pomona will not accept students if their high schools do not answer the questions; as a result, even reluctant counselors have complied, he said.

Pomona won't reject a student suspended for smoking cigarettes at school.

Still, he added, "a cigarette is different from a theft of an exam, which is different from chasing someone down the hall with a knife."

Hear that Amanda? A cigarette is different than a knife. Who woulda thunk it?