the pedant
VOLUME 8 NUMBER 3
\’pe-dant\: A scholar; one prone to ostentatious displays
of learning; a learned academic; a nit-picker.
MARCH 2016
Claremont Graduate University
NEW VP OF ADVANCEMENT
EDITOR’S NOTE
I
n late January of this year, after a
five-month nationwide search, CGU
announced Ernie Iseminger as the new
vice president of advancement.
As graduate students, we’ve all got at least 99 problems, and money is
definitely one of them. When it feels like I will never solve any of them,
I want to call Ariana Grande and scream it’s “one fewer problems, not
one less!” in my best angry-mom voice, and other times it’s enough to
whisper “fewer” five times per chorus. But I digress.
I know, I know, money is the root of all evil. If anything, the Pedant aims
to celebrate graduate life, but as any fresh-faced master’s student is
about to find out, and as any seasoned ABDer knows, we think about
money a lot.
As such, this issue of the Pedant addresses financial concerns of the
graduate-student variety—i.e., the good things and the bad things,
with a little bit of time travel, new programming, and educational law
thrown in to spice it up. We cover a new hire (to right), the tuition rise
(also to right), new funding opportunities (page 3), and the first-ever
post-coursework-focused event (also page 3). We dig deep into CGU’s
policy for dissertations related to the library, and offer a recap of the
GSC goings-on (page 5).
This issue’s feature is on Title IX. It’s a story we here at the Pedant
struggled to write because it is such a sensitive issue. I deeply hope
we’ve given it its due care.
More or less, there’s a bunch of really serious stuff in this issue. Thus,
the PhD Comic tries to make up for the maudlin mood by applying
Adele’s salutatory song to how we feel when we sit down to write.
Also, La Bonne Vivante time travels and returns unscathed to tell you
all about it. If, after all of this, you still need a distraction, we suggest
watching Love on Netflix.
The next time you’ll hear from me you’ll be celebrating—either getting
that coveted degree, or just making it through another academic
year without setting anything on fire. Or, if you did set a fire, I hope
you were able to put it out before your entire life went up in smoke.
That, my fellow pedants, is the importance of knowing the difference
between figurative and literal speech.
We are in the final stretch. Chin up, shoulders back, and keep your eye
on the prize. We can do this.
Cheers,
2
Campus News
5
GSC update
6
Title IX at CGU
8
La Bonne Vivante
10 Student Achievements 12 Calendar & More
March 2016
Emily Schuck, Editor-in-Chief
Kerri Dean, Writer
Megan M. Gallagher, Contributor
Very special thanks to Sandra Ascencio-Hodgin, Mandy Bennett, Chris
Bass, Alfie Christiansen, Mike Ciszek, Patricia Easton, Eric Ewing, Andrea
Gutierrez, Brittney Harvey, Roberto Hernandez, Ernie Iseminger, Calista
Kelly, Christine Kelly, Sheila Lefor, Rod Leveque, Carrie Marsh, President
Robert Schult, Rima Shah, Edris Stuebner, Alegra Swift, Rachel Tie, Alita
Watkins, and Becky Zimberlin, without whom this newsletter would not
exist.
For questions or comments, e-mail pedant@cgu.edu.
2 Otium cum dignitate
“First, we have to tell our story better and connect with our
community in much more intentional and intimate ways,”
Iseminger told the Pedant. “Secondly, we need to put CGU on solid
financial footing. It’s very simple.”
Iseminger has an excellent track record of fundraising campaigns
at universities where he’s served in the past, including our very
own Claremont McKenna College.
Iseminger noted that plans are in the works to begin a nine-year
capital campaign at CGU that will correspond with the university’s
centennial in 2025.
Because budget cuts and tuition increases have been a major
concern for students over the past few years (for more on this, see
below), Iseminger’s expertise is promising for CGU’s fiscal future.
“We are at a strong place now—for the first time in a while—to
think about how to support what we do and invest more resources
into our amazing students and faculty,” he said.
TUITION COSTS
CONTINUE TO RISE
Emily Schuck
Editor-in-Chief, the Pedant
the Pedant
Volume 8, Number 3
Over the past year, the Office of
Advancement has had interim leadership.
The role of the VP is to oversee all of
the operations that take place under
the umbrella of advancement, which
includes fundraising, alumni engagement,
marketing, and communications. If a
university were a circus, Iseminger would be the ringleader—
one that’s ready to crack the proverbial whip. His plans include
stronger community involvement, a fundraising campaign, and
strengthening the board of trustees.
L
ast May, the Board of Trustees approved a three-percent
tuition increase for the academic school year 2016-2017. This
is the fifth consecutive year CGU has raised tuition costs.
With this increase, tuition will have increased 13 percent since the
2012-2013 fiscal year. The increase will take effect on July 1, 2016.
By the numbers, this means that the standard tuition price per
unit will increase from $1,793 to $1,847. At the new rate, CGU
students taking 12 units per semester will pay approximately
$45,000 a year, including fees.
President Robert Schult sent an e-mail to students on February 3
that said, “We have negotiated the lowest possible increases in
these costs, and we are confident that the benefits derived from
these commitments will enhance your education at CGU.”
The increase is comparable to other schools, according to Alita
Watkins of the Office of Finance and Administration.
FINANCIAL AID: www.cgu.edu/finaid or e-mail finaid@cgu.edu
OFFICE OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT: www.cgu.edu/careerdevelopment or
career.development@cgu.edu
OFFICE OF ADVANCEMENT: www.cgu.edu/advancement or kevin.riel@cgu.edu
The Pedant, 8.3
As part of the annual planning process, CGU conducts a graduate
tuition comparison study of 17 peer institution graduate programs
within the Carnegie Classification. The Carnegie Classification of
Institutions of Higher Education provides a structure for classifying
colleges or universities in order to compare institutions for
educational and research purposes.
According to Watkins, the average tuition increase for similar
institutions was 3 percent for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. Last May
the Pedant covered a tuition hike and compared similar programs
to CGU. This year, we found similar results when using the Carnegie
Classification. With the filters set to: basic doctoral universities,
research doctoral programs, and private not-for-profit school,
10 similar institutions appeared on the list. The Pedant looked at
American University to do our own comparison. The private notfor-profit school saw an increase of 2.96 percent from 2014-2015
to 2015-2016. In 2014, American University graduate students paid
$1,482 per unit plus fees; in 2016 tuition increased to $1,526 per unit
for graduate students.
The national issue of crippling student debt hits close to home
with the yearly tuition increase. It would behoove the average CGU
student who is concerned about loans to be proactive. Students are
encouraged to apply for CGU-funded fellowships and dissertation
awards, visit the Career Development Office, or schedule an
appointment with the Office of Advancement to search a database
of external funding opportunities.
NEW FELLOWSHIP SUPPORTS
DIVERSITY
D
enise McIver, an arts management
student, is the first recipient of CGU’s
nascent Black Scholars Award.
Calista Kelly, PhD student in education,
pioneered the award, designed to support
students of Black African ancestry.
Kelly was inspired to find additional
funding opportunities for black students
after speaking with some of her colleagues
in the Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA), which she was
also instrumental in reviving.
“One of the things that became apparent from conversations with
other black graduate students was the exorbitant costs of graduate
school, which, myself included, we were absorbing through loans,”
Kelly said.
Frustrated, Kelly took action. She collaborated with CGU staff in
several departments to identify donors and develop a fundraising
strategy. The result was $25,000 raised for the endowment,
primarily funded by CGU supporters Matthew and Roberta Jenkins,
which will produce an annual fellowship of $1,110. The award amount
has the potential to increase if the endowment grows.
and practice as a museum professional,” McIver said. “I hope this
award will allow me to travel to Paris next year and study how
cultural heritage institutions in that city are utilizing art to explore
social justice issues.”
For more information on the Black Scholar Award, visit
www.cgu.edu/blackscholarsaward.
SO YOU’RE DONE WITH
COURSEWORK
L
ast month, CGU’s Student Success Center (SSC) hosted its
inaugural reorientation event. The event was designed to
address student needs after they finish coursework, which were
drawn from a survey the SSC sent last October.
The full-day event included panels, talks, and breakout sessions that
focused on many of these needs: teaching, career planning, financial
aid, and prepping for qualifying exams. It also included breakfast,
lunch, and a wine-and-cheese reception when the day was done.
“Students tend to drop off the map after they finish coursework,
and not just at CGU; this is a national problem,” said Christine
Kelly, director of career development. “We wanted to address the
challenges that keep students from finishing and remind students of
the resources that are available to them.”
The survey was instrumental in determining the programing and
attempting to address some of the causes that slow students down
after completing coursework.
“We wanted to figure out what prevents students from finishing
their degrees—and a major part of that is work-life balance,” Kelly
said.
Some students expressed concern that CGU’s model—no
undergraduates to provide teaching opportunities or help with
funding—is related to students who work during their qualifying
exam and dissertation stages. Kelly impressed that this is a problem
in most graduate education. Often times funding comes with a
teaching course load, which can range from a teaching assistantship
or instructing two to three classes per semester.
Instead of approaching this balance with frustration, Kelly
emphasized its benefits. “After you finish coursework things get
incredibly messy,” she said. “But that messiness is part of how you
become an independent scholar.”
View the videos from this year’s sessions at tinyurl.com/
cgureorientation. Keep your eye on your inboxes for information
about next year’s reorientation, or visit www.cgu.edu/reorientation.
“My love for CGU and my commitment to diversity fueled me,” Kelly
said.
Forty-five students applied for the funding. Kelly noted that the
number of applicants alone speaks to the need for institutional
support for minority students.
McIver is excited to use the scholarship to further her research.
“This is a tremendous vote of confidence in my scholarly pursuits
Left to right: Panelists Heather Campbell, professor and chair in the Department of Politics
and Policy; Tarek Azzam, associate professor at the Division of Behavioral and Organizational
Sciences; and Tom Luschei, associate professor of in the School of Educational Studies.
Leisure with dignity 3
Claremont Graduate University
STUDENT LIFE
An introductory note:
This story contains a
mountain of acronyms and
technical terms, and it is only
applicable to students who are not
in MFA or Doctor of Musical Arts/Church Music
programs (the Pedant loves you, too, you just
have a different process than the rest of us).
I
n days of yore, as you strolled the library stacks, you could find
fellow CGU students’ dissertations bound and shelved between
other great publications. Hard copies of fledgling works found cozy
homes next to Civilization and Its Discontents or The Illiad. But the
times, they are a’ changin’.
As the world goes digital, so does the academy, including CGU’s
institutional repository of master’s theses and dissertations, fondly
called ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations).
But with any big change comes uncertainty, especially when it
comes to scary words like “degree requirements” (which this is).
Many students don’t know how the digital systems work and how
to get their work on file at the library. Others wrestle with privacy
and intellectual property concerns that arise when you put your life’s
work on the Internet. Here’s a breakdown of your options at CGU and
how you can ease those concerns.
Students who have finished writing (hooray!) have two options:
About 95 percent of students submit a digital copy of their work to
the Registrar through ProQuest, which is most cost effective and
environmentally friendly. Luddites can contact the Registrar for hardcopy options.
ProQuest is a for-profit authoritative content holder of academic
works. To submit, simply follow the instructions on its website, www.
proquest.com. Once you have submitted it on the ProQuest website,
it goes directly to our Registrar’s Office for approval by Assistant
Registrar Edris Stuebner. If it is approved (sometimes students run
into trouble with pagination), Stuebner will send it back to ProQuest,
where it will be uploaded and saved to its online catalog.
At this point, the Claremont Colleges Library will be notified of
your submission, but it will not automatically include it in the
library’s digital repository, Scholarship@Claremont (S@C). To get
your work on file there, you’ll need to contact Allegra Swift, the
4 Otium cum dignitate
Claremont Colleges
Library scholarly
communication
& publishing
coordinator, and
grant her explicit
permission to upload
your dissertation to S@C.
Both ProQuest and S@C have options for limiting the audience
your work can reach. ProQuest grants access to institutions
and individuals who have paid subscriptions. You can place an
embargo—a temporary digital hold—on the release of your ETD. Both
services include lifetime access to your dissertation and allow you to
order print copies.
S@C allows you to the IP range to the Claremont Colleges, meaning
that it cannot be searched beyond the consortium walls. Alternatively,
if you want to make your dissertation available to all, you can track
where your work is being downloaded and generate a URL to share
with friends and colleagues.
S@C currently hosts few CGU theses and dissertations, which is a
problem, but one the library is trying to address. Swift said she and
other library staff are working to clarify policies and procedures.
Carrie Marsh, director of special collections and libraries, confirmed
this.
“We need to fix the flow to make sure there is a flow of theses
and dissertations into the library,” said Marsh. She also noted that
scholarship is currently not being archived in special collections, as
it has been in the past, and she intends to facilitate progress in the
coming year. Swift is working on contacting alumni for permission to
include their theses and dissertations in S@C.
The process may be confusing, but the Registrar is a resource that
will help even the most pedantic (!) of minds.
The Pedant, 8.3
GSC
Fair skies in the Ides of March
TOWN HALL
T
he Graduate Student Council (GSC) hosted a town hall in late February to connect students with campus leaders for a discussion about
some of the campus’s most pressing issues. More than twenty students came to Albrecht Auditorium for the evening session. CGU
President Robert Schult opened the floor for comments with a brief but meaningful request. “I am here tonight to ask you how we can
maintain the pride of CGU,” he said.
Students responded with questions, concerns, and ideas about communication and resources, but the strongest theme emerged around
issues related to student funding. Schult acknowledged the challenges students face in paying for graduate school, and said his administration
is committed to easing the tuition burden.
“We have to find ways to make education more affordable,” he said. “That is something that our team is working on in the long term.”
TRAVEL AWARDS
T
he application period is currently open for students who travelled for research or professional
development (read: conferences), or purchased materials related to research, between October 12,
2015 and March 11, 2016.
“The travel awards provide a platform for the GSC to give back to the students and help promote student
success; and it is our pleasure to help facilitate that,” GSC Treasurer Brittney Harvey said.
Harvey compiled a report addressing the need for additional funding for the travel and material awards.
The report notes that the amount of funding that students requested in spring of 2015 was more than
$35,000.
The request for funding grew in fall of 2016 to more than $58,000—over a 63 percent increase.
Harvey hopes her report will help bring attention to the growing financial need from students.
In fall of 2015, students travelled all over the world representing CGU. Harvey’s report notes that “[t]he
more support that we can offer the students, the further their research and network can span
across the globe.”
Student awardees celebrate
at the President’s House with
festive foliage.
FLAMES AIRLINES
NUMBER OF APPLICANTS
LAST SEMESTER
FLAMES AIRLINES
NUMBER OF AWARDEES
LAST SEMESTER
16
64
TOTAL AMOUNT ALLOTTED
PER SEMESTER
4500
Eligibility Period:
GSC
03/31/16
October 12-March 11 2016
Application Submission Period:
March 11-March 31 2016
CGU
For more information on the travel awards, visit www.cgu.edu/travelawards
or e-mail Brittney Harvey at treasurer.gsc@cgu.edu.
Leisure with dignity 5
Claremont Graduate University
Title IX
at CGU
Last November, the Claremont Colleges released the results of a sexual assault survey that
covered the entire consortium. CGU reported two incidents, the second-lowest of the 7Cs,
but even one is too many. The purpose of this feature is to explore the process and policies
in place at CGU for reporting sexual assault and to share the resources available to students.
A
s with any hot-button issue, the best place to start is at
the beginning. Late June of 1972, President Richard Nixon
signed Title IX into law. The United States Department of
Justice’s website states that Title IX is “a comprehensive federal
law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally
funded education program or activity.” It continues, “[t]he principal
objective of Title IX is to avoid the use of federal money to support
sex discrimination in education programs and to provide individual
citizens effective protection against those practices.”
In other words, it’s an equality law. Students—and everyone
employed by any educational institution that receives federal
6 Otium cum dignitate
funding—are granted federal protection from discrimination based on
gender or sexuality. Every educational institution writes its own Title
IX policy to comply with state and national standards. Despite these
protections, sexual assault is still an issue at the Claremont Colleges
and across the nation. Here, it is necessary to add a content warning:
The following text may contain content of a violent or sexual nature.
This is a sticky subject, and students have many options for reporting
an incident of sexual assault and getting other help. For the purposes
of this article, we’re going to use a hypothetical student: Student A.
Student A was sexually assaulted by Student Z on campus at a
university-sponsored event.
The Pedant, 8.3
One option for Student A is to go to the local police department.
This can lead to a criminal investigation. The police department will
not contact the school, according to Claremont Police Department
Lieutenant Mike Ciszek. To take action at the university level, Student
A can go to a faculty or staff member to disclose the incident.
All faculty members are designated responsible employees, or
mandated reporters, which means that they are obligated by federal
law to report the disclosure to Chris Bass, the Title IX coordinator for
students at CGU.1 Some staff members, but not all, also have this
responsibility. The Title IX language is vague, leaving universities to
grapple with making the distinction in their own policies.
Campus Resources
Monsour Counseling Services
757 College Way
909-621-8202
lorrie_delgado@cuc.claremont.edu
EmPOWER Center
1030 North Dartmouth Avenue
909-607-2689
RShahEMPOWER@cuc.claremont.edu
Queer Resource Center
395 E. Sixth Street
909-607-1817
QRCclaremont@gmail.com
Campus Safety
150 East Eighth Street
909-621-8170
dispatch@cuc.claremont.edu
Another part of Title IX is that students, faculty, or staff who feel that
a university has violated their Title IX rights may contact the Office
of Civil Rights to file a complaint against the offending university.
After the mandatory reporter reports the disclosure to Bass, he
will then contact Student A to take a report and begin the rest
of the process. At this point, Student A can still ask to maintain
confidentiality, but not anonymity. If, for example, Student A reports
that Student Z was responsible, but does not want Student Z to know
that Student A reported Student Z’s name, Bass will keep the name
confidential. The official language of the policy reads, “If at any point
[Student A] requests confidentiality with respect to [Student Z] and/
or decides not to pursue action by the University, the University will
make all reasonable attempts to comply with this request. . . In these
situations, the University’s ability to investigate and respond to the
conduct may be limited.”
The release of the consortium-wide Higher Education Data Sharing
(HEDS) Consortium sexual assault campus-climate survey in
October sparked important conversations about sexual assault
at the Claremont Colleges. Although CGU students reported two
incidents, neither of these incidents had been reported prior to the
survey. The administration became concerned that students and
employees were unaware of the resources available to them, and
began reevaluating student, faculty, and staff education.
Student A has other, more confidential options on campus. Monsour
Counseling Center has been designated a confidential space with
“privilege.” That is, if Student A discloses a sexual assault to a
therapist at Monsour, that therapist, even if subpoenaed, is required
to maintain confidentiality. However, that may mean that Student Z
will not be held accountable for their actions.
The Pedant asked 10 faculty and staff members in various
departments and disciplines, “If a student came to you and told you
they had been sexually assaulted on campus, what would you do?”
Four knew that they were mandated reporters and they would need
to speak with Bass. Two of these four said they were only aware of
their mandatory-reporter status because of previous jobs. Three
others, who were not mandatory reporters, were not sure how to
advise a sexually assaulted student. Another three, who were also
not mandatory reporters, said they would assist the student in
getting the help they needed, but were unfamiliar with the specifics
of CGU’s policy.
To address these concerns, Bass is now facilitating trainings and
has started a comprehensive review of the Title IX policy at CGU.
The university has also hired a part-time Title IX compliance analyst,
student employee Sandra
However, if Student Z is a
Ascencio-Hodgin. She has
The
most
important
thing
is
that
students
repeat offender, Student A’s
worked extensively with
name may need to be shared
are aware of the care and support at CGU.
educational policies related
with an investigator, because
to Title IX and is conducting
In
a
utopic
world,
no
one
would
need
them—
Student Z could be a sexual
a review of CGU’s policy to
predator and is a threat to
but until we get there, use them if you need to.
ensure CGU is compliant
the entire CGU community.
with state and federal
Additional measures may
regulations. “My hopes are
need to be taken if Student A and Student Z are in a class together,
to make CGU a model for graduate-level Title IX policies,” Ascencioand one of them needs to be removed.
Hodgin said.
Another option is the EmPOWER Center, which is the violence
prevention and advocacy center of the Claremont Colleges.
According to its brochure, it aims to “create a culture where all
members of the Claremont Colleges respect and look out for each
other, and where students impacted by sexual violence, dating/
domestic violence, and stalking receive holistic support and care.”
Students can also make an appointment with part-time therapist
Dr. Nancy Arzate at (909) 623-1619. That also falls under the
confidentiality-with-privilege umbrella. Rima Shah, director of the
EmPOWER center, told the Pedant, “We use an empowerment
approach, which means we let the student decide how they would
like to proceed after we lay out all their options and resources.”
According to Bass, CGU’s number-one concern with Title IX is student
care and support. This means that if Student A does not want any
action to be taken as a result of their reporting, the buck can stop
there if there is no threat to the CGU community. But, CGU is required
by another law, the Clery Act, to file a federal report that records that
a student reported an incident of sexual assault.
Bass’s main goal for this year is to increase awareness in the CGU
community. “I want to increase programming opportunities. We’re
also exploring online training modules for students, staff, and
faculty,” he said. “We’re hoping to roll those out in fall 2017.”
The most important thing is that students are aware of the care and
support at CGU. In a utopic world, no one would need them—but
until we get there, use them if you need to.
For the results of the HEDS sexual assault campusclimate survey and other consortium-wide resources, visit
7Csexualmisconductresources.claremont.edu or cgu.edu/titleix.
1
Jacob Adams is the Title IX coordinator for faculty, and Brenda Leswick for
staff. That is, if a faculty or staff member discloses an incident to another
responsible party, that responsible party would then report it to Adams or
Leswick, depending on whether they are faculty or staff, respectively.
Leisure with dignity 7
Claremont Graduate University
There are a few key items to note when you are planning your
evening of time travel and general merriment. First, the seating
is based on first come, first served and the castle doors open 75
minutes before the show begins. There is plenty to do and look at in
those 75 minutes, so it is well worth your time to arrive early. Also,
according to the website, this particular storyline happens during the
eleventh century, so plan for an evening without utensils. However,
their adherence to the genuine eleventh-century experience is finicky
at best, a note I know my fellow pedants can appreciate. On the one
hand, many of the costumes feature buttons—which weren’t invented
until the thirteenth century—and, historically speaking, we don’t see
glittery leggings or LED swords until the mid-twentieth century.
On the other hand, the locale is Orange County, currently home to a
large unvaccinated population. So, once you have found your cheap
tickets and have mentally prepared for milling about, hands-on
mastication, and plague, you are ready for Medieval Times.
La Bonne Vivante
by Megan M. Gallagher — writer, teacher,
epicurean, PhD student in English
Bonne Vivante, French: 1) a person having
cultivated, refined, and sociable tastes; 2) a woman
about town; 3) a pleasure-seeking hedonist.
As part of the Pedant’s mission to enhance student life, La Bonne
Vivante features goings-on about town outside of the moated ivory
tower that is CGU. This issue, La Bonne Vivante explores medieval
traditions.
Necsetz savare marves mai non possetz savare tota tostemz.
You always need to know everything right now but you can
never know everything all at once.
–Occitan Proverb
A
lthough we don’t currently have a medievalist on the
School of Arts and Humanities faculty, CGU has a strong
commitment to the propagation of medieval culture during
coursework and social gatherings. Who among us hasn’t seen a
“Guinevere’s Garden Delight” or “King Arthur’s Supreme” from
Round Table Pizza during a finals-week party? In this issue your
Bonne Vivante builds upon this foundation of medieval culture by
temporarily leaving the City of Trees and PhDs in search of medieval
times. Like any good Southern Californian, I pride myself on
shopping local and taking in the glory of pure, organic Claremont.
But like any good graduate student, I could not bring myself to
pass up a night of food, drinks, and entertainment. Of course I’m
referring to an evening of knights, chivalry, and jousting at Buena
Park’s Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament.
The first thing you need to know about Medieval Times in Southern
California is you should never pay full price. A quick Google search
brings you to its homepage and a prompt to buy tickets. This is
where all of your research skills as an MA or PhD student finally
pay off. That same Google search with a few select keywords such
as “Groupon,” “Living Social,” or “coupon” brings you a long list of
ways to get tickets without the king’s ransom.
8 Otium cum dignitate
When you first arrive and check in at Medieval Times, you partake
in one of the oldest and longest standing traditions in Western
culture: you are labeled by color and then segregated accordingly.
You and your party will receive paper crowns with one of the six
knights’ colors. Within your color group, you will instantly feel group
adhesion and intense nationalistic pride. Those outside your color
group are “Other” and are not to be trusted. You should (and will)
let the enemy know how you feel about them by loudly booing
whenever their knight or their cheering section lights up. The knights
are competing to deflower a princess who has recently come of age
and in your heart of hearts you know that the knight of your arbitrary
color assignment is most deserving of this honor.
Before the tournament begins, there are a few small sideshows and
announcements by the Master of Ceremonies. You are also invited
to wander around the bar, look at the horses, and study the armory.
This is an ideal time to pick up that $200, made-in-Spain, dull-edged
“Black Prince” sword you have had your eye on. As an added bonus,
according to the squire on duty, you get a 50 percent discount on
a shield with the matching coat of arms. The government might be
trying to make getting your bazooka more difficult by taking them
off the shelves at Walmart, but they won’t be able to tread on your
freedom of owning your very own morning star, flail, bec de corbin,
or pernach.
Once your group is seated and your serving wench1 has introduced
herself/himself, the show begins with the bird-of-prey portion of the
evening. The Master of Ceremonies stresses the importance of not
interfering with the bird as she does laps around the arena before
eventually landing. Ornithophobics should remain at the bar for
this portion of the show as the falcon does swoop rather close to
the heads of the audience. The purpose of this part of the show is
unclear, but all are grateful it occurs pre-feast.
The Pedant, 8.3
Photos (left to right): La Bonne Vivante explores the options of the armory, Knights of the Realm line up for commendations, and La Bonne Vivante shows
ultimate fealty and love.
Although eating with your hands might seem off-putting, everyone
else is doing it and it is so dark you really can’t even see what is on
your plate. But let your Bonne Vivante portend a word of caution:
Unless you’re the kind of person who is comfortable ordering saucecovered ribs on the first date, you might wait for some sort of legally
binding contract with your significant other before taking him or her
into these times of yore for a date. The meal begins with the official
motto of the medieval period: “Is Pepsi okay?” and then moves onto
the Texas Toast and Dragon soup.2 The main course includes half of
a rotisserie chicken,3 a potato, a few vegetables, and a dessert pastry
that your wench serves in courses throughout the show.
Shortly after the food arrives, the royal court announces the lords and
ladies celebrating special occasions. This list, or rather the reactions
the crowd had to the list, might have accidentally been the best
part of the show. The crowd cheered hard for the child celebrating
her seventh birthday and the man celebrating his seventy-seventh
birthday, but could not bring themselves to even crack a smile for
the guy entering his twenty-first year. Similarly, everyone clapped for
the local middle school in attendance but awkwardly looked around
with morbid curiosity as the king announced the special couples
that purchased the sweetheart Valentine’s Day package (LED rose
included). No one’s special occasion broke through the fourth wall
quite like the couple on their honeymoon. There was an audible
gasp of incredulity from the audience and the king couldn’t stop
laughing for the remaining anniversaries, bar and bat mitzvahs, and
unsweetened sixteens on the list.
After trading his kingdom for a pony show, the king bids the knights
continue. The victor engages in a furious duel with the neighboring
kingdom’s prince. The crowd, now united in kingdom if not in color,
celebrates as the victor of the tournament defeats the evil knight
from the North, and claims his virginal prize. The house lights
come up and knights of all colors return for one last victory lap as
the wenches bring about their gratuity cards. As your time in the
eleventh century comes to an end, you are almost looking forward to
that next Round Table Pizza party—almost.
Actual title given to staff by Medieval Times.
Dragons are free range and antibiotic free.
3
Vegetarian options are available upon request.
4
Note: this may be a more enjoyable field trip for you if you leave the early
modernist at home.
1
2
But the plot thickens yet. While the knights compete for the
maidenhood of the princess, a darkly dressed prince from the North
appears and offers peace between kingdoms for the princess’s hand
in marriage. If you bring an early modernist with you to Medieval
Times, he or she may point out that this is, in fact, the best thing
that could have happened to a medieval king, and he should have
just canceled the tournament on the spot. After all, protecting the
future of the kingdom, securing alliances, and turning strong military
adversaries into in-laws are the only reasons for having royal children.
However, this king chooses to use his daughter as a source of violent
infighting within his own court. Not only is he passing up a strong
political alliance, but he is also maiming all of his best knights in the
process. A fool’s errand.4
Leisure with dignity 9
Claremont Graduate University
student achievements
To share your recent achievement of the academic or vocational variety, e-mail pedant@cgu.edu with your name,
department, degree seeking, and a brief description of your achievement (see achievements on this page for examples).
Professional, high-resolution headshots welcomed; please, no other attachments or press releases.
Jonathan Erickson
Melissa A. Navarro
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Educational Leadership
On January 20, Erickson presented at the
Educator Excellence Summit in Sacramento
hosted by the California Department of
Education, which only accepted 10 percent of
proposals. Erickson’s session was titled, “How
to Create Your Own Teacher Development and Evaluation System.”
Timothy James Hilton
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Educational Policy, Evaluation, and Reform
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Teaching, Learning, and Culture
Navarro recently presented the workshop
“Introduction to the Next Generation Science
Standards” (NGSS) at the South Regional
California Association for Bilingual Education
(CABE) in which participants gained an
understanding of the history, structure, and organization of the
NGSS. Navarro also presented current research on implementation
and instructional models, as well as what it means to teach inquirybased science to bilingual students. The workshop was delivered to a
group of teachers, parents, and administrators.
Hilton was published in EdWeek’s Teacher Q&A blog by Larry
Ferlazzo on the topic of restorative justice and how it looks in the
modern school system. In addition to contributing to the blog, Hilton
participated in an EdWeek Teacher Classroom Q&A podcast with
Larry Ferlazzo.
Christine Keaney
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Teaching, Learning, and Culture
Keaney will be presenting research this April at the American
Educational Research Association’s (AERA) annual meeting in
Washington, DC in a paper session entitled, “Social Justice in Youth
Spaces.” Keaney’s research interests include the social construction
of identity, opportunity development for vulnerable youth, and
intercultural education.
Anna Ma
Institute of Mathematical Sciences
PhD, Computational Sciences
Ma received travel funding for presenting at February Fourier Talks in
Maryland. Ma was also a recipient of the Intellisis Fellowship for 2016,
which provides research funds. Ma also gave a presentation at the
NIPS Optimization in Machine Learning in 2015.
Denise L. McIver
School of Arts and Humanities, Drucker School of Management
MA, Nonprofit Arts Management
McIver is one of five recipients of a scholarship, sponsored by the
California Association of Museums (CAM), which allowed her to
attend the March 2-4, 2016 annual conference in Riverside, California.
This year’s conference theme was Branching Out – New Directions,
New Heights. The conference explored how museums are extending
their reach and addressing significant issues facing California—
ranging from social justice to finding new ways to engage their
audiences and stakeholders.
Ciara C. Paige
School of Social Science, Policy, and
Evaluation
PhD, Evaluation and Applied Research
Methods
Paige recently published three peer-reviewed
manuscripts. Two of the manuscripts were
published in the fall 2015 issue of Progress in
Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action.
She was the first author on the manuscript entitled, “Enhancing
Community-based Participatory Research Partnerships through
Appreciative Inquiry” and a co-author on “CBPR-Informed
Recruitment and Retention Adaptations in a Randomized Study of
Pap Testing among Pacific Islanders in Southern California.” She was
also a co-author on a manuscript entitled, “Associations between
women’s perception of their husbands’/partners’ social support and
pap screening in Pacific Islander communities” in the January 2016
issue of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health.
James Pike
Drucker School of Management
EMBA, Management and Marketing Research
Pike published “Developing an Internet- and Mobile-Based
System to Measure Cigarette Use Among Pacific Islanders: An
Ecological Momentary Assessment Study” in the Journal of Medical
Internet Research mHealth and uHealth. The article describes the
development of an Internet-based system that used mobile phones
to assess tobacco use patterns among young adult Pacific Islanders.
After adjusting for gender, age, and nicotine dependence, it was
determined that feeling happy is positively associated with cigarette
use while being at home or being around people who are not
smoking is negatively associated with cigarette use.
Doraelia Ruiz
School of Arts and Humanities
MFA, Art
The National Screening Committee of the Institute of International
Education named Ruiz a semi-finalist for the 2016-17 Fulbright US
Student Program. Her award would allow her to study printmaking at
the Royal College of Art in London.
10 Otium cum dignitate
The Pedant, 8.3
Clarence Wigfall
School of Social Science, Policy, and
Evaluation
PhD, Applied Social Psychology
School of Community and Global Health
MPH, Public Health
Villegas landed a job as a supervisor at UPS after working for the
company for a little over three months.
Tina Woolf
Institute of Mathematical Sciences
PhD, Mathematics
Woolf was awarded travel funding to attend the 2016 February
Fourier Talks, hosted by the Norbert Wiener Center in the
Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland, College
Park. She was also accepted to participate in the poster session,
where she presented about her research.
“Piled Higher and Deeper” by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com
Wigfall received an appointment as a
visiting professor at the Mongolian National
University of Medical Sciences, School of
Public Health. He travelled to Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia, to teach a class of his own design during the break
between the fall and spring semesters titled “Introduction to Science
and Public Health Communication.”
Jose A. Villegas
Leisure with dignity 11
Claremont Graduate University
calendar
March 28 Presenting papers or research can be hard
enough, and the design process can be just as taxing. Let
the Digital Learning Lab help you with their workshop on
designing academic posters in PowerPoint from 4:00 to 5:30
pm in Harper 14 (150 East Tenth St).
April 4–8 Graduate Student Appreciation Week! See event
in focus to right.
April 7 No need to think too hard for the benefits of this
workshop, especially since you can attend in sweatpants from
the comfort of your own home. Join the Writing Center’s
webinar on critical thinking and academic writing from 10:30
a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Moderated by Lori Anne Ferrell, listen in on the Kingsley &
Kate Tufts Poetry Panel, “Building a Poetry Community” in
the Honnold/Mudd Library Founder’s Room from 2:00 to
4:00 p.m. (800 N. Dartmouth Ave).
April 8 As both a grad student and teacher you probably
have accomplished coming to class prepared, but what
about your students? PFF is offering a workshop on helping
students prepare for class from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the
Academic Computing Building 108 (130 E. Ninth St).
April 16 Help the fight against cancer by joining the CGU
team at the Relay For Life of the Claremont Colleges from
10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. For more information, e-mail Jacklyn
Samano at samano1991@gmail.com.
April 8 The Office of Student Life and Diversity presents
the third annual IN YOUR FACE event. This year’s featured
presenter is Denice Frohman and guests can share their
stories. Appetizers and beverages will be provided 7:00 to
9:00 p.m. at Hagelbargers.
April 24 The Art Department will hold its spring 2016 Open
Studios from noon to 5:00 p.m. at the Peggy Phelps and East
Galleries (251 E. Tenth St). The event allows art collectors, art
lovers, and curious art philistines an opportunity to view the
student-artists’ work and their creative space. Rumor has it
there may be a taco truck.
May 13 This year’s commencement forum will focus on the
theme of creativity and innovation. Look out for an e-mail
with final details.
EVENT IN FOCUS
April 4–8
GRADUATE STUDENT APPRECIATION WEEK!
Feel underappreciated and overworked? This is our week as
graduate students to be spoiled. Plans to show appreciation
include a Poetree, yoga on the lawn, and plenty of food
events. And, of course, there is no other way to show
appreciation without the wagging tails of puppies on April 6
from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Student Success Center (131
E. Tenth Street).
graduate tips
CGU Professor David E. Drew
and the late Professor Paul Gray,
authors of What They Didn’t Teach You
in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints
for Success in Your Academic Career,
have been kind enough to allow us to
publish one helpful hint from their book
in each issue. This is so that one day
you don’t raise your fist in the air and
curse CGU for not teaching you that . . .
122. DIVERSITY VARIES GREATLY among institutions. When
considering an offer, and even when making an application, try to
find out whether the institution you are considering as your future
intellectual home shows a genuine openness and commitment
to supporting and mentoring all junior faculty, including
women and people of color. A massive study of attempts by
universities to diversify their faculty concluded, “Campuses with
greatest gains had explicitly connected their . . . efforts to their
educational mission and had implemented multiple strategies
to improve the recruitment and selection process with regard to
[underrepresented minority] candidates.”1
1
J.F. Moreno, D.G. Smith, A.R. Clayton-Pedersen, S. Parker, and D. H. Teraguchi, The
Revolving Door for Underrepresented Minority Faculty in Higher Education: An
Analysis from the Campus Diversity Initiative (San Francisco: The James Irvine
Foundation, 2006), p. 2.
May 14 Time to walk across the stage and receive the
degree. The sweat, blood, and tears have all been worth it. It’s
graduation. Congrats, grads! More information at www.cgu.
edu/commencement.
Claremont Graduate University
The Pedant
150 East Tenth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
www.cgu.edu/pedant
12 Otium cum dignitate