The Executive Board descended upon the Oct. 14 meeting of the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC) Senate this week to impart its “arduous” but “unanimous” decision to expunge White Party from the ASCMC budget. One justification they provided was that White Party’s “implicit” association with drugs conflicted with ASCMC and the resident assistants’ goal this year of encouraging “healthier student behavior.”
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When asked why the Board made the judgment that rampant drug use would be worse than rampant alcohol use, Vice President Madeline Hall CM ’14 claimed that “steps would be taken to address both of them.” When further pressed on why the student body was not consulted about this decision first, Hall cited the Executive Board’s authority to change individual line items on the ASCMC budget, such as White Party, at its own discretion. Indignant first-year senators present were reassured that White Party has only been around for four years, so they were not missing out on some great tradition anyway. To reinforce this point, President Gavin Landgraf CM ’14 referenced the cancellation of the 26-year-old Madrigals party—due in part to injudicious student behavior—in 2009.
A discussion about amending operating procedures and funding Pitzer College’s Reggae Fest followed. One senator asked why ASCMC should fund Pitzer’s Reggae Fest if it was canceling White Party due to controversies about drug use, and the Executive Board responded that Reggae Fest was not a really controversial part of Pitzer’s culture. Senate approved the funding request with 77 percent approving, 16 percent opposing, and seven percent abstaining.