The SAT score inflation mess at CMC has raised some important issues about how our two neighboring campuses and student bodies interact, and presents a valuable opportunity to outline the role we hope that the TSL Opinions page can serve in facilitating productive discussion among all individuals at the 5Cs this semester.

It needs to be said first that healthy competition between 5C campuses is beneficial to everyone. Competing schools push each other to avoid complacency in academics, arts, and athletics. When it’s a P-P versus CMS game, more people attend and each person cares more about every play. The atmosphere becomes electric, and athletes rise to play at a higher level when it comes to rivalry games. Life would be pretty dull for anyone of the 5Cs without the other four colleges, as much as we like to pretend otherwise.

There are many things that CMC does better than Pomona, and the same is true of the other three Claremont Colleges. These relative strengths and weaknesses push everyone to be better by giving the people in charge of each institution a constant measure of what they can improve.

It’s easy to become absorbed in the cross-college competition to the point where it becomes unhealthy. Intensity in the gym or on the field shouldn’t translate to the need to cancel Pub in order to avoid physical confrontations. And when something like the SAT score inflation scandal hits CMC, Pomona students have little cause to smugly enjoy the misfortune of their neighbors to the north. In fact, when one college falters, attracting sweeping negative media attention, it weakens all of us.

Issues like this call for varied and open discussion. We hope this semester's Opinions section will reflect the many diverse views of students across 5Cs. Truly anyone (any school, any grade or member of faculty and staff, any perspective) interested in submitting their well-argued perspective on a topic that is relevant to the community should submit it to opinions@tsl.pomona.edu.

Consider this also our disclaimer that each article published is not meant to represent the views of The Student Life or its staff, but rather of the individual columnist who submitted it. We view the Opinions page as a forum, not a podium exclusively for disseminating our own thoughts.

We believe that a venue for open discussion will, if used correctly, genuinely enrich the discourse and relationships at the 5Cs. We ask you not to wait until an op-ed provokes you, and not to let the semester pass you by without making your voice heard on subjects about which you are passionate—especially ones that affect students directly. Wherever you stand on the range of controversial events of last semester, students have made it clear that they refuse to be silent when it comes to issues they care about. We hope that same attitude will apply when you consider making your opinions heard before it's too late.