Pitzer in the News
2003-2004 Academic Year

Dunn Convicted in Hate Crime Hoax
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Aug. 19, 2004
     A former Claremont McKenna psychology professor was convicted August 18 of lying to police and attempted insurance fraud for falsely reporting to detectives and her insurance company that her car was vandalized in a hate crime in March.
     Kerri Francis Dunn of Redlands faces more than three years in state prison when she is sentenced Sept. 17. She could have faced as much as six years behind bars if jurors had convicted her of the more serious charges of insurance fraud, as prosecutors had asked, rather than the lesser charge of the attempted crime.

Integration of Asian Markets Seen as Remote
Bangkok Post
Aug. 13, 2004
     Even in a best-case scenario, integration of Asian financial markets remains well in the future, according to Hilton Root, an economist, Freeman Fellow and lecturer at Pitzer College.
   The Great Depression in the 1930s saw the ownership of many U.S. companies change from a family structure to public shareholding.
     “But in Asia, there has not been a significant improvement comparable to change in the U.S.,” Root said.

Student’s Legacy Helps Six Scholars
Long Beach Press Telegram
July 25, 2004
     Six students from the Long Beach area will head to college this fall with scholarship money from a fund created in memory of a slain Long Beach Poly High student.
     The students were recipients of Jerome Richardson Memorial Scholarships, created by Richardson’s parents shortly after the 18-year-old star athlete was gunned down while heading home from a basketball game in January 1987.
     Alisia Fajinmi, an honor student at Crenshaw High School, was among the six recipients. She will study psychology and economics at Pitzer College.

Just Desserts
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
July 1, 2004
     This summer the Inland Valley is bursting with lip-smacking surprises. Whether you’re into low carb, low fat, sugar free or sinful decadence, there’s a place you can go to satisfy your summer sweet tooth.
   Bert and Rocky’s Cream Co. in Claremont now serves up Pitzer Paradise, a new creation by Pitzer students, faculty and staff. They combined pineapple, orange and mango sherbets and marbled it with coconut ice cream.
   “It turned out to be so popular we have it on a regular basis,” said Brent Hunter, who owns Bert and Rocky’s with his wife, Sherrie.

Raids Just Another Bush Ploy
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
June 27, 2004
     Jose Calderon, Pitzer College professor of sociology and Chicano studies, had an opinion piece featured in the Bulletin’s opinion section.
     Professor Calderon wrote that raids in the Inland Valley by Border Patrol agents have “created ongoing fear and hysteria in our community. I know of people who are not sending their children to school, families who will not go out into the streets and workers who are sneaking out only to go to work.”
   “Further, these raids are not only attacks on our immigrant communities, they are also affecting residents and citizens who, for the simple reason of having brown skin, have been stopped by the Border Patrol and questioned about their citizenship status.”

Latinos, Border Patrol Have Calm Meeting Over Arrests
Los Angeles Times
June 18, 2004
     U.S. Border Patrol agents, under scrutiny for the arrests of nearly 200 suspected illegal immigrants in Corona and Ontario this month, met with community leaders Thursday and agreed to relay their concerns to higher-ups in San Diego and Washington, officials said.
   “We consider this a victory for our community,” said Jose Calderon, a Pitzer College professor. “We intend to put pressure on Congress and our political representatives in Washington to ensure that … there is pressure to stop the raids.”

3M Foundation Awards Vision Grants to Five Private Colleges
Business Wire
June 3, 2004
     Five private colleges, with programs ranging from high school partnerships to developing a new master’s program, will receive 3M Vision Grants totaling more than $246,000. These grants are designed to foster innovation in private colleges by supporting new, academically based initiatives that connect students with their communities to solve problems.
     Pitzer College received a grant for “Growing Up at the Hug House: Building an Educational Community for Homeless Youth.” Through a partnership with Hug House, a community based organization serving the educational needs of homeless children, Pitzer students will implement a literacy program and community garden, creating educational stability for a highly mobile population of homeless youths.

Pitzer College Mentioned in Christian Science Monitor
May 18, 2004
Want a job? Hand over your SAT results.

Prof. McConnell Quoted in Wall Street Journal
May 13, 2004
War Stories: What Vets Choose to Say About Their Battle Day

Pitzer, Jerry Brown Honor Innovative Social Activist
Claremont Courier
March 27, 2004
      A lecture series honoring longtime Pitzer College friend Ivan Illich – which began March 26 with a keynote address by Jerry Brown, mayor of Oakland and former California governor – continued through March 28.
     “Conversations: The Legacies of Ivan Illich,” was a celebration of Illich, who died in December 2002.
     Illich was born in Vienna and traveled extensively throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States, challenging inequity and espousing innovative ideas regarding such varied topics as education, gender, technology, ecology and literacy. He wrote numerous books and founded the Center for Intercultural Documentation in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
     Illich also was an active member of Jerry Brown’s “Oakland Table,” an informal think tank dedicated to strengthening democracy and fostering the ability of Americans to make an impact in their own communities.

Program Gives Kids a Healthy Start in Life
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
March 26, 2004
      The Health Rodeo in Claremont has come and gone, but much of the information is still available. Kindergarten readiness packets, nutrition information, parenting videos and safety tips are there for the asking at Claremont’s Healthy Start Family Resource Center.
     More than 30 agencies have joined in collaboration with Healthy Start to offer free services to those in need. Healthy Start comes to school districts as a three-year state grant. It’s eligible to schools that are part of the federal lunch program.
     Pitzer College is among the more than 25 agencies that provide such services as medical, dental and vision referrals; mental health counseling; tutoring and mentoring; parent education and support groups; English as a Second Language classes for parents; and clothing, shelter and supplemental food.

$22,000 Fellowship Aids Pitzer Student in Project
Claremont Courier
March 24, 2004
      Pitzer College senior Filiberto Nolasco Gomez has been awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to pursue his project, “Education on the Margins: Pedagogy and Agency in Marginalized Communities.” His project will take him to Guatemala, Brazil, South Africa and Northern Ireland.
     “I look forward to this amazing opportunity to interact with communities that are reforming education on their own terms, motivated by a deep sense of social justice,” Gomez said. “I would also like to thank everyone for their support and friendship.”
     Gomez is one of 50 college seniors nationwide to receive the fellowship, which funds a year of travel and independent inquiry outside the United States.

Experiencing Ancient Culture in West Africa
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
March 18, 2004
      In a place older than time, under a blanket full of stars, Kurt Beardsley ’97 had a life-altering experience. He is one of only a handful of Americans who has lived the Festival of the Desert.
      The Claremont resident spent three days in the crystal-like sands of the Sahara Desert in January. There, 50 miles north if Tombouctou, Africa, he was drenched in the ancient culture of the Tuareg, an African tribe seldom seen by westerners.
      The festival, in its fourth year, brought more than 3,000 Tuaregs together to unite in song, dance and fellowship. They laid blankets before their tents to display their many talents that include crafting swords, daggers, jewelry, art work and leather goods. Beardsley estimated about 500 Europeans attended from various countries along with about six Americans.
     Beardsley is the production manager for Bridges Auditorium at the Claremont Colleges.

William Moritz, 63; Professor, Expert on Experimental Film, Movie Maker
Los Angeles Times
March 14, 2004
      William Moritz, a longtime California Institute of the Arts professor who was an authority on abstract animation and the work of experimental filmmaker Oskar Fischinger, has died. He was 63.
     His death coincided with the publication of “Optical Poetry: The Life and Work of Oskar Fischinger,” his full-length biography on the avant-garde animator and painter who fled Nazi Germany for Hollywood in the 1930s.
     After earning a doctorate in comparative literature from USC, where he minored in cinema alongside “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas, he taught at various institutions, including Occidental College, Otis Art Institute, Pitzer College, American University Center in Calcutta, India, and UCLA.

Peter Harper’s Artist Forum: An Online Contest Where Everybody Wins
Claremont Courier
March 13, 2004
     Peter Harper ’96 won’t lie about what it’s like to be an artist. “It’s an incredibly difficult career,” he says. “I definitely don’t recommend it to anyone unless they don’t mind starving for a couple months sometimes.”
      This may not be news to anyone, especially not to fledgling artists struggling to get their work exposed. But Harper, a Claremont native, is making waves with a bold innovative idea in the art world: an online contest where everybody wins.
     When Harper was establishing his own artistic career a few years ago, he created a Web site to showcase his art, but that got old fast. “So I came up with this concept of showing artists’ work and allowing the people who came to the Web site to choose which artist they like the most,” he said.
     The result was the Artist Forum at peterharperart.com, where everyone who visits the site can view works from four different artists each month and vote for their favorite. The winning artist is featured on the Artist of the Month page.
     Harper is an “artsy” person himself, but he never planned on becoming a professional artist. As a political science major at Pitzer College, he worked on art projects on the side, and during a year in Zimbabwe he received some formal training in sculpture.
     Artists who want to submit their work to the Artist Forum should contact him at info@peterharperart.com.

Business Buzz
The Tribune
March 12, 2004
     Jon-Erik Storm ’99 recently joined the Employer Advocates Group in San Luis Obispo as an associate attorney. Storm is a 2003 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law and holds degrees from Pitzer College and Claremont Graduate University.
      Employer Advocates Group is a law firm that advises and represents businesses in labor and employment matters with offices in San Luis Obispo and San Francisco.

Dan Segal, Anthropological Association Criticize Bush Stand on Marriage
San Francisco Chronicle
March 10, 2004
Article reports on the primary organization representing American anthropologists that criticized President Bush's proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and gave a failing grade to the president's understanding of human cultures.

Teens Defining a Dialect
The Bismarck Tribune
March 8, 2004
      Listen to the sounds of Northern California girls and you hear the future of the state.
     “In robotics, I always double-check what I dew, so people don’t think I got it wrong ’cause I’m a girl,” said 17-year-old Kendal Sager, a senior at Los Altos High School in California, her “u” sound tilting slightly so it sounds like the “ew” in “pew.” A friend agreed, saying it gets me she-oh may-ud,” shifting and stretching the sound of “o” and “a” in “so mad.”
     A growing body of linguistic research shows that teenage girls are crafting subtle changes in pronunciation that, over time, are being adopted by their elders.
     “Girls are the innovators,” said Carmen Fought, a professor of linguistics at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., who studies California speech. “They hear small variations in pronunciation out there, then decide which changes to seize on and then take forward.”
     This story ran on the Associated Press, appearing in newspapers across the country.

Call for Immigrant Rights: Activists Seek Driver Licenses for the Undocumented and Protest a New Prop. 187
Riverside Press-Enterprise
March 7, 2004
      Equipped with water bottles, straw hats and plenty of chants, about 150 people made a two-hour trek Saturday, March 6, to show support for public services to undocumented immigrants.
     The crowd walked up Euclid Avenue’s median, from the 60 Freeway to H Street in Ontario, in support of providing driver licenses for undocumented immigrants, creating immigration reform and stopping state budget cuts.
     The march and rally, organized by eight Inland activist groups, also was called to protest an updated version of Prop. 187, a 1994 ballot measure that denied public services to undocumented immigrants. Prop. 187 was approved by California voters but was defeated in the courts.
     “Even though we’re a brown little speck, we’ve got a lot of little specks that can give power to the people, Nataly Buenrostro, 21, told the crowd. The Pitzer College student was among several speakers who motivated walkers, who included students, laborers, housewives, children and community leaders.

Lacrosse: Patience, Persistence Carry Pomona-Pitzer Women’s Lacrosse Team Into New Season
Claremont Courier
March 6, 2004
      In the fall of 2000, a team was born. It is a team of women from all over the country, playing a sport few in Southern California have heard of.
     They are the Pomona-Pitzer women’s lacrosse team. The players come from as nearby as San Diego, where the sport is quickly gaining popularity, and as far as New York, where lacrosse has been popular for decades. Some players come from hometowns where lacrosse isn’t played at all; they picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time this season.
     Four years ago, a 5-college women’s club lacrosse team split along varsity lines, becoming Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS). The teams’ respective athletic departments planned to eventually grant them varsity status and, in 2002, CMS joined the NCAA as a varsity team. Five years after the split, Pomona-Pitzer is still patiently waiting for their athletic department to follow through on its promise.
     They have enjoyed considerable success in their division of the Western Women’s Lacrosse League (WWLL), winning the Division II South Championship in 2003.

On Top of the Carriage World: NBC Cable's Bridget Baker Negotiates Deals Building Network Distribution
Multichannel News (www.multichannel.com)
Jan. 26, 2004
      Befitting a woman who spent part of her childhood in Japan and Alaska, has studied in England and began her career in Washington, D.C., Bridget Baker, Pitzer class of 1982, took a circuitous route to the cable industry. Now in her 15th year at NBC Cable, Baker, 43, serves as senior vice president of cable distribution and has been instrumental in crafting many of its major carriage pacts. She came to cable from the world of politics. In high school, Baker won an essay contest that earned her an internship with U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK). After graduating from Pitzer College with a degree in political studies, Baker, who has also attended Exeter College at Oxford University in England and George Washington University's graduate business school, returned to work for Stevens.

John Landgraf Joins FX as President of Entertainment
Manufacturing.Net
Jan. 16, 2004
      FX has hired former Jersey Television president and partner John Landgraf for the position of president of entertainment, announced Peter Liguori, president and CEO of FX Networks.
      At FX, Landgraf will be in charge of all development and production for original programming including series, films and new media.
      Landgraf is a 1984 graduate of Pitzer College, where he majored in anthropology.

Future Is Now
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Jan. 10, 2004
     From “Blade Runner” to “Star Wars” and Ray Bradbury to Isaac Asimov, creative minds have tried to capture a vision of the future. Whether it’s flying cars, outer space or a cloned race, artists are continually expanding the boundaries of the imagination to create images that are startling, provocative and hopeful.
     For more than 70 artists working in and around the Pomona Arts Colony, ideas of the future are culminating in a series of exhibitions and performances for “Envisioning the Future,” – a long-awaited three-month community art project led by renowned artist and educator Judy Chicago and her husband, photographer Donald Woodman.
     The project opened up the works for the public Jan. 10 at Pitzer College with a talk by Chicago and a reception and exhibit of the painters group in the Nichols Gallery, curated by Nelson Trombley.
     Stories on the “Envisioning the Future” project also appeared in the Claremont-Upland Voice, Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Claremont Courier.

Nuñez Picked to be Assembly’s 66th Speaker
The Associated Press
Jan. 9, 2004
     A first-term lawmaker who grew up poor in Tijuana and San Diego was elected to the most powerful post in the California Assembly on Jan. 8.
     By a voice vote, lawmakers picked Assemblyman Fabian Nuñez of Los Angeles as the house’s 66th speaker. He will succeed the current speaker, fellow Democrat Herb Wesson of Culver City, on Feb. 9.
     Nuñez is a 1997 graduate of Pitzer College.

Claremont Man Is Inspiration for Brothers
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Dec. 25, 2003
     Sometimes Gil Gonzales just sits on his bed in the one-room Claremont apartment he shares with his two brothers and thinks about how far he’s come – and how far he still has left to go.
     He’s been alone, hostile, hungry and homeless, but never hopeless.
He went from high school dropout to college graduate, from drugs to sobriety. He was abandoned by his father and helped care for an invalid mother.
     Now, he has finally stepped into the role life meant for him to have: mentor and role model to the two younger brothers who’ve always been central to his life.
     En route, he graduated from Pitzer College and now is on his way to law school.

Pitzer Prof Gets Pulitzer Nod
Claremont-Upland Voice
Dec. 12, 2003
     Pitzer College professor Barry Sanders may have nabbed his second Pulitzer Prize nomination, but he wants to make sure some of the spotlight falls on the man who co-wrote the book that earned the recognition.
     “The nomination for the award is a reassuring note about working together and friendship, especially when there is so much nastiness in the land,” he said. “The idea of friendship and being connected to the writing of the book is important for me.”
     The literature professor’s book, “Alienable Rights: The Exclusion of African Americans in a White Man’s Land, 1619-2000,” is co-written by independent scholar Francis Adams and was nominated by publisher Harper Collins for the award.

Activists Walk 4 Days for Right to Drive
Los Angeles Times
Dec. 8, 2003
     Saying they will not be deterred by recent setbacks against driving rights for illegal immigrants, several hundred immigrants and their supporters capped a four-day march from Claremont to downtown Los Angeles on Dec. 7, 2003, with a rally in front of the Federal Building.
     Jose Calderón, president of the Latino Roundtable and a sociologist at Pitzer College, said an estimated 1,000 people participated in the march at some point over the four days.
     “At a time when there’s an economic downturn, the immigrants are always blamed. But we know immigrants contribute more than they take out. Studies show it,” Calderón said while marching near Union Station.
     Stories on the march for illegal immigrants’ driving rights also appeared in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Claremont-Upland Voice, Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Claremont Courier.

Nuñez Attracted to State Politics Early
Los Angeles Times
Nov. 21, 2003
     People who know Fabian Nuñez, a 1997 graduate of Pitzer College, well warn against being deceived by his boyish face and kid-next-door demeanor.
     In their view, the 36-year-old freshman Democratic legislator from Los Angeles may be young and inexperienced as he prepares to become Assembly speaker, one of the most powerful political positions in California. But he is also a quick learner, a passionate advocate for the poor and a man who loves to win.

Sociology Students Get Real-World Experience: Pitzer in Ontario Teaches Social Awareness
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Nov. 17, 2003
     On a conventional street, in a conventional house, is a not-so conventional program.
For the last seven years, the house, which is a block from Euclid Avenue, has been home to Pitzer College in Ontario, a study abroad program that’s not so abroad.
     Even though the house is only 5 ½ miles from the Claremont Colleges, figuratively speaking it is a world away from the schools.
     “I think people who want to make a difference get some real-life experience,” said program director Marie Sandy.

Photographer Makes Art from Southwestern Ruins
Claremont Courier
Nov. 8, 2003
     A landscape of charred hills and smoky skies has been seared into the consciousness of many Southern Californians in the wake of recent fires. But a show by Dick Oosterheert on exhibit at the Claremont Community Foundation offers another view.
     Mr. Oosterheert, manager of grounds services at Pitzer College, has taken pictures of Anasazi ruins at three areas in the Southwest: Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado and Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. The lush colors of these photographs – achingly blue sky, sandstone cliffs touched by hues of red and gold, the contrasting dun color of aged adobe – provide a feast for the eyes.

Mural Celebrates Brave Teen
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Nov. 7, 2003
     Kayla Villela’s image stares out determined. With her wavy brown hair cascading over her shoulder, she clutches her books, ready for anything.
     On Nov. 6, 2003, the real Kayla sat in her wheelchair wearing a white knit cap, crying as she saw herself in the mural at Vina Danks Middle School for the first time.
Kayla, 14, battles a form of cancer that rarely strikes children her age.
     Kayla, who graduated from the school in June, was chosen for the mural “because she is a survivor, a role model and example, a symbol of struggle and strength,” said Paul Botello, 41, the artist.
     The mural was a joint project of Pitzer College, Vina Danks and Botello. Funded by a Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism grant, it was awarded to the school on behalf of the 2003 Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning.

Palmer Canyon Eulogy
MetroWest Daily News
By Rick Holmes ‘75
     The road from Pitzer is flat and arrow-straight. When I lived there back in the ‘70s, the road had orange groves on both sides. Since then, they’ve extended the freeway and the orange groves north of Foothill Boulevard have given way to subdivisions brimming with million-dollar homes . . . full article

Coming Home: A Sister’s Journey of the Heart
The Seattle Times Magazine
Sept. 28, 2003
     Pitzer senior Caitlin Moody wrote of her sister, Jocelyn Moody, a Korean girl adopted by the Moody family. The article recounts Caitlin’s memories of the arrival of Jocelyn into her life and the life of their family.
     “Moody. A last name. A family name. Your family name. Not to mention a certain trait in each of us. The talking you, the hearing you, the reading, writing, singing you. Your humor and your laughter. Your poetry. Your temper, or at least the resulting flow of curse words. It’s your ‘I love you.’”
     The article goes on to describe the family’s return to Korea with Jocelyn to meet her foster mother.
     “Sitting in the upstairs office of the orphanage, your orphanage, we waited with our photo album and gifts. Shin Hae Sun [Jocelyn’s foster mother] had arrived, they told us, but she was collecting her nerves and emotion before entering the room. Twenty-one foster children, and you were the first to return.”

Working for the Invisible Workers
Monterey County Herald
Sept. 21, 2003
     The young brown girl in the black-and-white picture playing piano for her pigtailed girlfriends spent her weekdays in a privileged world – country clubs, big houses. Weekends were spent in another place – about 20 miles away, the ramate (flea market), Monte Mart, the heart of the East Alisal of Salinas.
     In both places, Blanca Estella Zarazua felt equally comfortable.
     “You can be your own kind of weird soup – just don’t forget where you come from,” says the 46-year-old Zarazua, a Salinas attorney who grew up in Carmel Valley where her father, Aquilino, was a longtime ranch foreman and her mother, Ampelia, worked as a maid and seamstress. She grew up humbly on a 75-acre estate, living with her family in servants’ quarters but cheered and encouraged by prominent neighbors such as Carmelo Panetta, and her father’s employers, Bruno O’Dello and Anne Stevenson.
When Zarazua went off to college at Pitzer College in Claremont, anonymous funds helped pay for her clothes and books. Oxford followed. So did law school. She got a top job as a tax attorney for Bank of America, her office in San Francisco’s tallest building a prize showing how high she’d risen.
     She had it all, and then, about four years ago, decided to come back. Back to the servants’ quarters where she grew up, remodeled into a modest home she shares with her parents. Back for her family and her community.
     As the debate has raged over whether illegal immigrants should be given driver’s licenses, Zarazua has been working to convince city and county leaders that the invisible workforce needs a legitimate form of identification.
     Most people who are here are here to work, period,” said Zarazua, whose father came to the United States from Queretaro, Mexico, as part of the bracero worker program of the 1930s.

Disney Concert Hall Opens With Fanfare and Fireworks
Monterey Herald
Oct. 24, 2003
     The debut of the Walt Disney Concert Hall began with a solo voice singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and ended with thousands of pieces of silver confetti, cut in the outline of the Frank Gehry landmark, falling on a cheering crowd.
     “I hope what this means is that L.A. has finally found its center,” said Laura Skandera Trombley, president of Pitzer College, who attended the opening. “We’ve been searching for decades.”

NP Appoints Judge
The Argus
Oct. 28, 2003
     Steven Leskin, a Portland, Ore., attorney and resident, was appointed as North Plains’ municipal court judge by the North Plains City Council. Leskin replaces Judge Jerry Wygant, who plans to retire at the end of the year.
     Leskin worked as a field representative in the publishing industry for about four years in Sacramento after earning a bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College in 1984.

Pitzer Receives Diversity Grant
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Oct. 19, 2003
     Pitzer College has received a grant that is expected to bolster its international studies program and on-campus diversity. The $300,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will go toward intercultural faculty and student exchanges with partner institutions abroad.
     “It’s a great opportunity to engage students in cross-cultural dialogue and increase diversity on both campuses,” said Paul Faulstich, Pitzer professor. “This is an exciting pedagogical option for students on both ends.”

Protesters: Chino Officials Should Resign
Claremont Courier
Oct. 22, 2003
     In a square, gray room on the second floor of the Broad Center at Pitzer College, Chino residents, Pitzer students and members of the Coalition for Social Justice and Action met with Chino City Manager Glenn Rojas regarding hostility between the Chino Police Department and Chino residents.
     These groups have charged the Chino Police Department with brutality, corruption and racial profiling of minorities in the Chino community.
     “The chief can’t control his officers, the mayor can’t control the chief and the city manager can’t control the city,” said Jesse Diaz, a member of the coalition and a Pitzer alumnus.

"Environmental Terrorism” Is a Matter of Definition
Los Angeles Times
Oct. 11, 2003
Phil Zuckerman, Pitzer professor of sociology, had an op-ed published concerning air quality in Southern California. Zuckerman, in reaction to countless days of poor air quality, argued that something must be done to combat pollution. He recommended that major publications in the region should publish lists and profiles of the largest polluters in the area; high-polluting vehicles should be penalized with higher taxes to fund health care costs; and funds should be allocated for alternative sources of transportation.

Groups Issue Demands to Police
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Oct. 11, 2003
In a meeting at Pitzer College, Chino residents and activists presented a formal list of demands to Chino officials regarding charges of brutality and corruption against the city’s police department. Jesse Diaz, a 2002 graduate of Pitzer and co-chairman of the Coalition for Social Justice and Action, said, “There’s no way that the police are being held accountable there in Chino for their action or inaction.” Diaz and the coalition want Chino officials to do more to educate residents about their rights and arrange for internal and external review boards to examine police activity. Jose Calderon, Pitzer professor of sociology and Chicano studies, supported the request by the coalition, Pitzer students, the Mexican American Political Association and Chino residents, that Chino City Manager agree to a hearing by the Los Angeles County Human Relations Committee and create a citizen’s police review board.

Panel: Blunders Led to Recall
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Oct. 1, 2003
A panel of scholars, including Jose Calderón, Pitzer professor of sociology and Chicano studies, argued that the California recall election came about as a result of a political climate created by the downturn of the stock market and its affect on the state’s economy. Calderón said that the political environment is such that a Republican could seize office and try to correct the state’s fiscal problems through measures unfairly targeting Californians who can least afford cuts in services and outreach programs.

Book Shows Empathy for Women Who Face Violence
San Jose Mercury News
Sept. 19, 2003
Jervey Tervalon, writer-in-residence at Pitzer College, was featured in a story about his book, Lita. The book is a sequel to Dead Above Ground (1999). Tervalon recounts the many instances in his life when he learned to empathize with women’s pain and explains how those experiences, particularly his relatives’ accounts of domestic violence, shape his fiction.

Japan Society Appoints Dr. Frank Ellsworth President
Japan Society
Sept. 12, 2003
Frank Ellsworth, president of Pitzer College from 1979 to 1991, was appointed to head Japan Society, America’s leading resource on Japan. Ellsworth has been involved in Japanese education, culture and management issues for more than 20 years. In 1979, as Pitzer’s new and youngest president in the history of the Claremont Colleges, Ellsworth initiated one of the earliest culture-based language learning programs. Ellsworth continues to serve as a Life Trustee on the board at Pitzer.

Pomona-Pitzer’s Merits Also Extend to the Field
Los Angeles Times
Sept. 26, 2003
The Times recapped the Pomona-Pitzer football team’s huge upset win against then-No.3 Trinity (Texas). “There are clear distinctions in the term ‘student-athlete’ at Pomona and Pitzer colleges,” The Times wrote. “Literature, molecular biology and political theory come first, football and other sports are a distant second. But for a few hours Saturday (Sept. 20), football took center stage.”

Mural Project Honors Farm Labor Leader’s Legacy, Service to Community
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Sept. 26, 2003
Students at Vina Danks Middle School in Ontario recently completed a mural on their campus to honor Cesar Chávez and school staff, faculty and students for serving as an example of the labor leader’s commitment to community. Several Pitzer students helped the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders as they worked with muralist Paul Botello on the project. The artwork was funded through a state grant on behalf of the 2003 Cesar Chávez Day of Service and Learning. Jose Calderón, Pitzer professor of sociology and Chicano studies, applied for the grant on behalf of the school.

The Facts of Life for an Administrator and a Mother
Chronicle of Higher Education
Sept. 5, 2003
       Pitzer College President Laura Skandera Trombley sums up her story in the Chronicle as a “teachable moment” for administrators to “create work environments for real people in the real world.” Trombley employs a moment of epiphany she had while attending an academic council meeting in 1996 to highlight the obstacles faced by mothers as they grapple with raw biology and the demands of the workplace.
     Trombley then goes on to analyze the pressures women face as they face “the collision of male and female professional work environments.” Such pressures, she argues, rear their heads either on the job or as female professionals try to move on to other jobs.
     “Seven years later, the stigma of maternity has ebbed, but not the lessons I learned,” Trombley writes near the end of the article. She used her experience to guarantee an easier path for workers at Coe College, where she was hired in 1997. Pitzer, she writes, has been recognized for its primary-caretaker leave program, and should serve as a national model.

Reliving Their Pain for Others
Los Angeles Times
Aug. 30, 2003
     Ruett and Rhonda Foster, 1981 and ’82 Pitzer College graduates respectively, were featured on the front page of the Los Angeles Times for their efforts to alter the lives of inmates at juvenile prisons by sharing the story of the killing of their 7-year-old son four years ago by gang members. The Fosters bring news clippings, photos, video clips and their poignant recollections of the short life of their son, Evan, to monthly visits to the prisons as part of the California Youth Authority’s Impact of Crime on Victims Program. The Fosters have been part of the program for four years. Honored recently as Treasures of Los Angeles and featured in other publications such as Los Angeles Magazine, the Fosters have used their personal tragedy to reach out to others in an effort to end the cycle of violence that brings many of the young offenders back to prison and to put a human face on the victims of crime.
     The Times’ story chronicled one of the Fosters’ visits to Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier, Calif. The reporter, Sandy Banks, noted that many of the young men are receptive to the Fosters’ message, while others refuse to acknowledge the human toll of living outside of the law. For the couple, reliving the death of their son in front of prisoners is a necessary part of their mission to cultivate empathy and help the wards develop a sense of personal accountability. The Fosters aim to remind them that it was a senseless act of blind rage, (the killers indiscriminately sprayed bullets into the car in which Evan and Rhonda were sitting), that led to the death of their son.

Claremont Colleges Ranked Among Best
Claremont Courier
Aug. 27, 2003
     The five undergraduate schools in the Claremont Colleges consortium loudly proclaim “present and accounted for” in the recently released U.S. News and World Report 2004 Guide to America’s Best Colleges. Pomona College was ranked fourth among all liberal arts colleges in the nation. Claremont McKenna was 12th, Harvey Mudd was 17th, and Scripps was 34th. Pitzer was ranked as a second-tier college, tying with seven other schools in the No. 70 spot. Pitzer ranked in the top 10 for campus diversity. Claremont McKenna came in at 14th, Pomona at 16th, Harvey Mudd at 20th and Scripps at 22nd.