While checking my email this morning, I noticed an urgent (not even kidding) message from AStA (a national student-government type thing.  It's very odd) informing me that the occupation of one of the lecture buildings will continue.  They invited all of us to take part in the events that they are hosting, like documentaries and discussion sessions (this is a Serious Protest).  The occupiers have run into a bit of a snag - the building that they chose to occupy houses the library for political science, and the undergraduate thesis for political science students was supposed to be due on Monday.  As a compromise, they've managed to extend the deadline for the thesis by three days - but as the occupation is continuing, this extension will not be a big help.  Rest assured, they are "trying" [sic] to make the library available.  Good to keep the priorities in order here - finshing your bachelor's thesis=bad, discussing documentaries and alternative workshops=good.  Score one for the Bildungsstreik!

Continuing the hilarity, they've issued another list of demands, this one more riduculous than the last.  High points include:  "Removal of compulsory attendence from the entire social sciences" and the too-awesome-to-be-true "two-hour lunch break and class-free Wednesday afternoons to encourage collaboration and active participation in student committees."  Again, please don't misunderstand me - I think that it's good that students are trying to take control of their education, but they're going about it in entirely the wrong way (potentially screwing your fellow students out of a degree is not the way to make friends) - and there's still not a compromise in sight. 

For those of you who can read German, I've linked the original email here. 

**Update**
Pomona College has decided to reverse the ban!  Still, what happened makes for an interesting story, so I'll leave that part up, but the contact emails have been taken down. 

I recently found out about an "incident" that occurred last month at Pomona College which only served to remind me of what I won't be missing about the school.  Essentially, the situation is this:  the Voices for Planned Parenthood (VOX) Chapter at Pomona College (in conjunction with Pomona College's Women' Union) hosted a public event during Abortion Awareness Week.  As this event was, you know, public (see an image of the original flyer here), two students from the neighboring Claremont McKenna College (CMC), Kyle Kinneberg '09 and David Daleiden '11, from Live Action, a California pro-life (or anti-choice, take your pick) group decided to attend.  Although they did arrive late, they knocked on the door and were allowed in by a student who was aware of their Live Action affiliation. 

So far, so good.  Upon arrival Kyle and David turned on an unconcealed video camera (reports state that they kept the camera on their leg) and began to film the Q&A session led by Ms. Serena Josel, a Planned Parenthood public relations manager, following her lecture.  It being a Q&A session, students began to ask non-personal questions, and David joined in.  Another student then informed Ms. Josel that David was a member of Live Action, at which point she became irate and non-responsive to his questions, as well as insisting that he turn the camera off.  As the event was public (it had been advertised as an event open to the public) the use of a video recording device was protected under CA statute.  She was under the impression that it was a private event for VOX members, but David corrected her and informed her that all students of the 5C's (the five Claremont Colleges) had been invited to attend.  However, she continued to tell them that they had acted illegally and insisted that they leave the event.  David and Kyle stopped recording and complied. 

At this point, what would have been a minor incident was suddenly a major event:  shortly afterwards, two Pomona College deans sent an email to Pomona's student body regarding the incident, claiming that David and Kyle had "violate the space" of the Women's Union and that they had asked "disruptive" questions (I only wish that I were making this up).  On March 2nd, David and Kyle were handed (literally) a letter from the Pomona College Associate Dean of Students (and Dean of Women) accusing them of violating Pomona College policy and “serve[d] as notice, from [that] day forward, [they] were banned from the entire Pomona College campus.” Click here for page one of this letter, and click here for page two.  Prior to this disciplinary action, David and Kyle were not given an opportunity to discuss the alleged violations or disruptions.

Please note that I am not trying to make this into a pro-life or pro-choice issue - the fact that two CMC students were banned from my alma mater (which is just across the street from CMC, no joke) with no warning and no proper course of judicial action is appalling.  The 5C's pride themselves on being an open consortium of students, with students free to enroll in courses offered by the other universities (I personally took 1 course at CMC and 3 at Scripps College, and my major department was hosted by both Scripps and Pomona).  Ironically, this decision came after a campus debate on the nature of free speech.  Kyle and David have not yet been informed which policy that they violated.  I believe that if a College devotes itself to the free exchange of ideas, as Pomona College claims to do, then they must recognize that dissent will occur from time to time.  Kyle and David's actions are also firmly under the protection of the First Amendment, which, under CA law, applies to all insitutions of higher learning, making their ban from Pomona both unjust and illegal.  Sadly, the administration of CMC has complied with ban, and provided Pomona College with pictures of the students so that they can "enforce" it. 

So I had a lot of free time at work today, due to a nice 4 hour incubation step (isn't science fun?) and decided to see what the world around me was doing with the news and such.  I came across some things that will give you a huge boost to your self-esteem and also make you wonder how these people have managed to live that long.  First, this lady is apparently surprised that bargain-hunting for what is in the first place a dangerous and unnecessary medical procedure might in fact not be a good idea. 

And we all know that kids are annoying, but throwing your six-year old nephew into a river because you think he is a witch goes a tad far.  Apparently the famous drinking abilities (or problems, you decide) of our English-speaking relatives who actually managed to get a whole continent to themselves have spread to parliament.  And finally, do not be surprised when valuable recordings get stolen due to neglect - especially in Jamaica, where crime is not exactly what one would call a rare occurence.