Danielle Tucci interview

              LD: What is your name?

DT: My name is Danielle Tucci.

LD: And what year are you in at Scripps?

DT: I’m a senior.

LD: Okay, and how does it feel to be leaving campus soon?

DT: It’s a little frightening, but it’s also kind of exciting, just to, you know, take the liberal arts education with me and see what I can do. I’m actually applying to grad school for a psychology program, since I want to do cognitive neuroscience and brain imaging. So that’s my first plan—back up plan would be to, you know, get a job for a year and then apply to grad school again.

LD: Do you feel like Scripps has prepared you well for those options after college?

DT: Definitely. Scripps is very supportive academically and just preparing—helping us to realize the bigger picture things that are going on in the world, just being aware and not necessarily just in the “[college] bubble”.

LD: Where are you from originally?

DT: I’m from San Diego, California. I went to a prestigious private high school, so it was kind of similar to Scripps, but more like a high school, obviously. I was on a scholarship for that high school and it was really helpful; I took a lot of AP classes.

LD: What made you choose to go to Scripps for college?

DT: I remember when I visited the tour guides were really nice, everyone was super welcoming, I did the “Spend A Night In Her Shoes” event—which I think it’s called something different now—but basically we got to spend the night, and go to classes, and talk to people, and go to the dining halls, and that whole
experience was just really cool—to be able to have that kind of insider’s perspective. And when it came down to it I was debating between Notre Dame, which is where my brother went, and then Scripps College. And I think ultimately, I just really liked the people there, the admissions office ladies were all super friendly. I liked California weather and being close to home, and it also was kind of a way to branch out because I had been following my older brother all my life, so it was kind of a way for me to be like, “I want to be my own person”. And, so yeah, you know I love the campus, but I think mostly it was just the people who were very excited and wanting me to be there.

LD: So was your college decision very different from most of your peers at school as far as where you went or what you decided to do?

DT: It depends. I feel like a lot of my friends were looking at the bigger, like, kind of prestigious schools, you know, you’ve got the UC’s, you also have the Ivy Leagues—so a lot of people hadn’t heard of Scripps and going to a small all-women’s college was definitely not in the norm. But at the same time, I knew that the academics were really strong here and I would still get a really good education. And so people were definitely supportive, but sometimes they would be like, “Wait—isn’t that the oceanography institute?” So, yeah, a little bit different, I would say.

LD: So the class that you’re in, Senior class, what do you think are some of the popular majors?

DT: Psychology, for sure. Neuroscience is also pretty big. I think biology as well, and I have a lot of friends who are either classical studies or Asian studies [majors], but I’m not sure they’re quite as big. So it kind of depends if you’re looking just at Scripps, or at 5-C, because you can major outside of Scripps, at one of the other colleges as well.

LD: Have there been a lot of people in your class that decided to do that?

DT: Yeah, I mean, it depends on what you’re interested in, so if you’re going to be a Japanese or Chinese major, you’re going to major at Pomona [College] even though we’re going to Scripps.

LD: Okay, so which campuses would you say lean toward certain majors, or is there a certain way you would categorize each of the campuses as far as what’s popular to study there, or what they provide?

DT: You mean stereotypically?

LD: Sure, stereotypically.

DT: Okay, so obviously [Harvey] Mudd is very math/science oriented. I would say Pitzer is more like, “social justice” and kind of “politics-looking-at”. CMC is like, business, management, accounting, that kind of stuff. [At] Pomona you get a lot of things, but I know they do have—neuroscience is strong there and they also have a lot of languages, whereas Scripps is very much humanities, liberal arts, just broad-based things. But from the people I know I would say most [Scripps students] major either at Scripps or Pomona, just because we have a large range of classes that you can take that people are interested in.

5:05

LD: Interesting. So what dorms have you lived in over the past four years that you’ve been here?

DT: I’ve primarily been in Routt, which is kind of unusual. Most people spend one year in one dorm and move around, but for the past three years I was on the third floor of Routt. I was in a triple my freshman
year, I was in a seven-person suite sophomore year, and then I was in the [Residential Advisor] pull-in my junior year. And this year I’m in a single in Browning.

LD: Do you feel like there’s a certain “dorm culture” associated with any of the dorms?

DT: No, not really. I mean, some of them will have more upperclassmen than underclassmen, so in Frankel/Routt, obviously, there are going to be a lot of “first-years” since there are a lot of triples there. I know Clark and Toll tend to have a lot of upper-classmen, but it’s really kind of mixed, and there isn’t a ton of real dorm community.

LD: Do you feel like there are any traditions or rules that stand out with Scripps?

DT: The only tradition I can really think of is the Candlelight Dinners, which have—well, we’ve had them on a more regular basis in the past, but they typically do one or two a semester. And they’re really fun—you get to go to the Hampton Room, and dress up, and go with friends, and eat really good food, and be served. So that’s always really fun. I know it was based on a previous tradition where the seniors would all get together and they would pass a candle around. And the person who blew out the candle was the person who had just gotten engaged. So that’s kind of where it comes from, but nowadays it’s not as popular and they don’t do that anymore. But we kept the name because there are candles on all the tables. So it’s kind of fun to learn about!

LD: What would you say your normal day is like at Scripps, if you were to outline what you do every day?

DT: Typically, I wake up between eight or nine, I either go to morning prayer with the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship group, or I will go to work, (I work at the music library for work-study), or I will do homework. I have a lot of classes in the afternoon, so I will probably go to lunch with some friends, and then I’ll have classes. And then in the evenings, I’ll either have bible study, or more work, or we have Thrive on Thursdays, and after those activities I’ll do more homework. And I’ll try to hang out with friends if I’m not doing homework.

LD: How do you feel groups like Intervarsity are viewed within the college campuses—do you feel like they’re accepted or supported, or do you think there are any challenges faced for those groups?

DT: I would say on the whole they’re definitely accepted. Club organizations are definitely encouraged, especially at Scripps where people have so many extracurricular activities, it’s really cool. It’s a good way for people to make friends with people outside of Scripps especially, because CMS (sports) is three colleges, Intervarsity is three colleges, I go to Catholic mass at McCallister Center, that’s 5-C, so I have a lot of friends through there. So I think it’s just a really good way for people to come together, get to know each other, and also do a similar activity, or have similar beliefs or something…together….wasn’t super articulate. [Danielle laughs].

LD: So along those lines, what attitudes do you think there are around Scripps towards Queer, or LGBT, or homosexual communities around the colleges?

DT: I would say at Scripps especially and also at Mudd there’s a very strong support network for Queer, LGBTQIA people and allies, just because we have the Queer Resource Center which is at Pomona, and then there’s also—I think it’s called “Prism and Family” at Scripps and Mudd. So people are very open about it, and there are a lot of classes even—you know, you have gender identity talked about and discussed. It’s brought up in Core I, at least my year it was, so I think there’s a lot of discussion and awareness. My freshman year there was also the 2008 Prop 8 election/voting/poll…you know what I
mean. So there was a lot of discussion about that, and talk about that, and when it wasn’t passed there were a couple of rallies, and people were having events to talk about [it], you know, “Why wasn’t it passed?” and “What can we do to support these people who want to be married in the state legally?” and all this kind of stuff. So I think people are very much aware of it. But you know, if you’re not in those circles, it’s not necessarily something you’re going to talk about every day.

10:18

LD: How is the dating scene around the Claremont Colleges?

DT: Well, I would say it’s very different—so there’s two different ways you can date: there’s the hook-up culture, and then there’s also the more long-term relationship kind of dating, which are very, very different. So in the “hook-up culture” there’s typically parties on the weekends, people go to have fun, get drunk, whatever, and then find someone and spend the night. And that’s it. That’s the basis of a relationship, as opposed to the more long-term relationship dating, where you’re with one person for an extended period of time. You get to know them first, before you go more physically, and at least within Christian circles that I know of, especially the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship group, there’s a lot about purity, and not having sex before marriage—just kind of trying to really know someone before you do anything drastic, for lack of a better word. And just kind of more of the stereotypical dating in the real world I suppose.

LD: Do you feel like any of—do any of the different colleges have certain stereotypes about how the dating scene works, or do you think there are any couple of colleges that—people tend to date each other from those schools, or anything like that?

DT: I mean, it’s really hard to say. But there is definitely the stereotypical Mudd boy with Scripps woman pairing, which is kind of funny. I know there was some statistic a while back that’s like—I forget, like 50% of all Scripps women who married, married a Mudd person—you know, a Mudd man. It’s just like, really? It’s so funny, but it’s surprisingly true. I’ve known a lot of people…I’m in a relationship with one of them…it happens. But outside of Mudd and Scripps, I don’t know, I would say people are kind of more open to whatever. I’ve known people from Scripps who have dated Pomona people, I’ve known people from Scripps who have dated CMC-ers. It’s not anything too stereotypical.

LD: So along the lines of the dating scene, what do you think the attitudes around the college campuses are towards, you know, you talked about purity and virginity?

DT: I think as a general theme as a secular liberal arts college, there’s definitely a broader culture of, “Well, you’re an adult now, you can do whatever you want,” and kind of encouraging the freedom, especially at CMC with alcohol. And just being like, “Well, this technically is illegal for people under 21 to be drinking, but we—we’re not going to stop you from making your own decisions. And so I think that’s pretty common across all the colleges, less so at Scripps, but there is definitely this idea that we are intellectual, smart people. We should be able to make our own decisions, and I think that transfers over to sexual activity as well. So it’s…it’s interesting to have this kind of dichotomy where there’s the larger culture that really emphasizes individuality, and just making your own choices and living with the consequences, or embracing the consequences for some people. So there’s that idea, and in contrast to the more purity/virginity kind of thing I was talking about earlier with the different Christian groups on campus.

LD: So do you feel like, when you say “overall,” do you feel like it’s more prevalent that it’s expected or accepted?

DT: Kind of, yeah, I would say so, just as a general theme, like if you ask a random person on the campuses I feel like they would agree that as a secular college we’re kind of like, “We’re giving you guys the freedom or the ability to do whatever you want.”

LD: How do you think that culture affects people within the Christian communities?

DT: I would say it’s definitely hard. I’ve had a lot of conversations with my non-Christian friends who are dating, and trying to explain to them why I’m not having sex, or not making out with my boyfriend, and it’s interesting, like, the reactions you get, where people kind of expect you to be doing things that other people are doing, and they think that—I don’t know, not that you’re weird, but just like, “Why would you not do this,” because it’s a general norm of the colleges. So trying to explain your beliefs and being like, “No, I have this conviction that it would be better to wait, or to keep myself from having to deal with negative consequences from sex, or from physicality that can take a while to get over, and have lasting effects and such.” So it is an interesting place to be in.

15:36

LD: Do you feel like that is accepted where you’re at, or do you feel like there’s pressure to change, or pressure to conform?

DT: At least within my friends I’ve definitely had a lot of acceptance because they’re my friends, which is nice. But I think there definitely are some weird glances you can get if you’re talking to other people that you’re not as close to or don’t understand where you’re coming from. And there is definitely this idea of, “What’s wrong with you?” like, “Why aren’t you doing what everyone else is doing?” kind of like, implicit peer pressure but yeah, it can be interesting to explain.

LD: Yeah. So what do you do for fun in general on the weekend?

DT: Usually I will go with my friends to either watch a movie in the dorms, or we’ll go to the Mudd Hole and play pool, and hang out. There’s usually a lot of dancing with the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Team. They’ll have a salsa night, or a blues night, or other things. I think they had a black and white ball last night which was really fun. So I always like going to their events and hanging out or going to the lessons even though I’m not in any of the classes necessarily. So that’s a lot of fun. If there are any interesting parties I’ll go. I normally don’t drink, but it is fun to go and just kind of watch. And I’m also involved in Running Club, actually at Mudd. So it’s called “hashing,” which is a weird name, but essentially they draw arrows on the ground and you have to follow the trail to find the two hares who laid the trail and it’s just really ridiculous. You get to go all over campus, and people look at you weird, and it’s just really funny. So that’s entertaining. I’ve been doing that a lot these past two years, and actually before that I was involved with the CMS track team my freshman and half of sophomore year which was really fun, but a big time commitment and it was good. It was two hours of running five days a week plus track meets, so that would be all of my Saturdays, all day kind of a thing. But it was good, I did sprints and hurdles. And the community there was really fun, it was nice to be able to work out with people and have the support, especially as a woman athlete. It’s sometimes hard to just walk into the gym, at least at CMC, and work out because a lot of the guys are doing huge waits, so it’s kind of intimidating to really jump in there. But at least with the track team I would have other girls who were trying to get in shape with me, and it was definitely a bonding experience. I really enjoyed it and I wish I could have stayed with it, but the time commitment was a bit too much, and when I got involved in leadership with the Christian Fellowship groups at Mudd, Scripps, and CMC, then I had to prioritize what I wanted to do. So it was a really good experience, I wish I could do everything, but there’s so much to do so I made up for it by joining the running club.

LD: Do you think there are a lot of the students that are involved in sports or fitness classes/clubs?

DT: At Scripps particularly?

LD: At Scripps particularly, yes.

DT: I would say it’s a minority, but it’s not like it’s looked down upon or anything. People are involved at the Field House doing yoga, and doing dance, and doing other kinds of stuff. But definitely [for] varsity sports, it’s a minority. It’s a lot of time, but people are very committed and it’s really cool to see that. So I know for Scripps most people are involved either with running or swimming more so, but there are also the rugby team which is not varsity but also intense and they travel, as well as the intramurals people like to get involved in.

LD: Which campuses, if any, would have a majority of their students involved in sports?

DT: Definitely CMC. I believe it’s a requirement that they have to take PE classes [or] be on a varsity team, so I think they have something like 60% of their student body on a varsity sport. I know Pomona has a really strong athletics team. The Mudders that I know who do do varsity sports are typically on cross-country because that’s when it fits in their schedules, and I’m not entirely sure about Pitzer. But I know they are involved with Pomona. I know more about CMS than I know about Pomona-Pitzer [teams], just from being involved. But it’s a fun group to be with, just a lot of work.

20:31

LD: What sorts of other groups would you say are prevalent on campus. So there’s sports, religious groups, are there any other groups?

DT: I think social justice and activist groups are very much, you know, a vibrant force on Scripps, especially with the things going on at Pomona with the dining hall workers nowadays. I know a lot of people who are involved with that.

LD: Can you explain more about what’s going on with that?

DT: Yeah! Okay, so essentially, Pomona asked something like eighty workers—I’m not entirely sure—asked a lot of their workers who had been working for them for a number of years, you know, 15, 20 years, to resupply them with their identification documents, stating that they were a citizen, or had a green card, or they were legal to work at Pomona, and especially for the dining hall workers, they didn’t give them enough time to get their documentation if they needed to get a new visa or a new green card, so there’s been a lot of protesting and debating about the unionization of the dining hall workers. And just a lot of talk about what’s going on and whether it’s ethical at all, because typically, you’re supposed to get documentation when the person is hired and then you don’t need to ask for it again.
So another current topic of discussion that has been happening in the past couple of years has been about the Bernard Field Station. The Bernard Field Station used to be owned by the [Claremont University Consortium] and then eventually they had to sell it because of funding and lack of resources so Harvey Mudd bought it. People were really concerned because [biology] and life science majors used the Bernard Field Station for a lot of their thesis work, and a lot of the [biology] labs go there just for a better understanding of biology. So they were worried that this natural preserve was going to be demolished, or used for a parking lot, etc. So two years ago there was a big push by the students—we had to sign petitions, we had to approach the administrators, just trying to preserve this piece land that hadn’t been touched by any construction or anything. It’s just really a natural preserve which is really
crucial for the environment. It has dwindled in the past year or so, but it’s still definitely an issue. I know Harvey Mudd has promised to not do anything with it yet, but they just decided to purchase it in the event that they needed more space, [or] a dorm, or whatever. So it’s still definitely an issue, but it’s not as dicey or up-in-arms nowadays because it seems to have kind of leveled out, where they decided to keep it, and hopefully in the next 20 years they’ll renew the contract with the [Claremont University Consortium] and hopefully it will go back to being used by everyone.

LD: How do you feel—Scripps as a “women’s college”—do you feel like there is a lot of feminism present, or do you feel like that plays a role into the culture around the college?

DT: For sure. It depends a lot on who you hang out with and what clubs you’re involved in, but definitely. At least in my Core I experience, feminism was very much emphasized. We read Mary Wollstonecraft, we had discussions on women in science, and there was just a lot of talk about women’s history, especially. I think there are certain clubs on the campuses that are very pro-feminism and very strong. You have the Motley [for example] which has a lot of “empowerment” and “respecting your body” [themes] and a lot of things on body image, and just [encourages] having that kind of awareness of issues that women face.

LD: What is the Motley?

DT: The Motley is a student-run coffeehouse on campus. It’s entirely student-run, they put on shows sometimes, there [are] open mic nights, it’s just a casual, really good place for people to hang out and study. A lot of [the] baristas make their own drinks and come up with things that they put on the menu. It’s a really cool place, there’s artwork that’s shown, there are different events which happen, but I already said that. It’s just very central to the Scripps-woman experience. I feel like a lot of people go there and know about it, and it’s a safe space for people to talk, and raise awareness.
I know there are film screenings about human trafficking, and people have their busts in paper mache, just to emphasize their femininity. Just to be aware of that kind of stuff, and there’s a lot of stuff about empowering women, and being able to be strong, independent, kind of take-on-the-world mentality, which is really good. I definitely like it. But I feel like it was a little bit forced, at least in Core I. I know they have changed the core program since my freshman year, but it definitely was very much like, “This is feminism, you will accept it!” [Danielle laughs.] So I definitely have seen both sides where it can be emphasized almost to an extreme, but I also really appreciate that it’s there—especially being a woman in science, going to graduate school. I appreciate having the background of two sides to the same coin.

26:42

LD: So, you’re mentioning Core I, can you explain what Core I is?

DT: So Core is a three-semester program for all Scripps women. Its [purpose is] to help them learn more about analyzing arguments, articulating their ideas, and also learning about the history and progression of human thought. My year the theme was “culture, representation, and human rights” so we focused a lot on human rights through the ages. We looked at slavery, we looked at women’s rights, we looked at music, and portraying women. We looked at [John S.] Mill talking about his theory on human rights, the right to do what you want as long as you don’t hurt anyone else. The Declaration of Independence: “what does it mean to have human rights?” [We looked at] all this kind of stuff up until the twentieth century. So Core I—everyone takes [Core I] all together, and so it’s a really good bonding experience for the freshmen to have the same lecture all together—and then we have different discussion groups—and to be able to talk things out with your discussion leader, who is a professor at Scripps, and you know,
work on Core papers together, and learn how to write, and just really kind of introducing you into the liberal arts mentality of analyzing arguments, and questioning, and really thinking about things deeply and not simply accepting things at face value. There are a lot of different topics that are covered in Core I but it’s kind of tied together by the common theme, and I know a lot of people who hate it, a lot of people who love it, I’m kind of in the middle where I really appreciated it, but I wish there was more connection between the different topics presented. And then Core II and Core III are the next two semesters in the Core sequence and you get to choose, depending on your registration time, different topics that you want to investigate. So [in] my Core II , I investigated fairytales and their effect on culture as well as the psychoanalysis of fairytales, and it was really interesting—a lot different from what I expected—but it was a good class. We got to look at films, we got to look at plays, as well as fairytales themselves, and how people think about it, and are they only children’s tales, and “What does it mean?,” “What was the author intending by writing it?,” so a lot of these kinds of discussions came up. And then from my Core III, which is Fall of sophomore year, I did the “Artist’s Book”. So we looked at the history of book-making and “Where does language come from?,” and we got to make our own book as our final project, which was a lot of fun, but a lot of time, stitching together the binding and making the pages, making paper, and writing in it. And we actually got to put on an exhibit in the Humanities Museum, which is really cool. We got to go into the rare books room at the Denison [Library], and look at really old manuscripts, and cuneiform tablets from ages and ages ago. We had Egyptian papyrus and hieroglyphs. So it was a really cool class, it was vary historically based. And then we also got to the more modern “artist’s book” kind of thinking of “What is a book?”, and “What does it mean?”, and “Can you have a book without words?”, and “How does this whole interaction of conveying ideas or thoughts work?” I really enjoyed all of them. I know people have had different experiences from me, and they really help set the stage for how I tackled other class work, and being able to really delve into materials, and question, and think through things very thoroughly and having that mentality of wanting to really get to bottom of things and understand where people are coming from and understanding biases that people have, interacting—all the effects that coursework has on other areas as well.

31:05

LD: So you mentioned that they had changed the program since you did it, so at what point did they do it—do you know anything about why they changed it or what they changed it to?

DT: I think they change it on a fairly regular basis, they just update it and try to make it better for people with experiences. So my—sophomore or junior year I believe they changed it. It was no longer “Culture, Representation, and Human Rights,” but it focused more on other things. So [in] the Core program they read a lot of different books, different works…I think they read Foucault instead of Mill, they didn’t watch “Medea” but they watched another film on women trafficking or women’s rights or something like that. I understand the need to make things better, but it’s always kind of like, “Well, what’s really happening?” and it was a little annoying as an upperclassman to not really be able to relate to the underclassmen and help them out because I feel like Core is something that does bond people together a lot. And it’s this common Scripps experience, because we’re all going to have very different majors from each other as sophomores, juniors, and seniors, so it’s nice to have this common freshman experience. But I also recognize that the program has flaws and trying to make it better is also good. But talking to the sophomores, juniors are not entirely sure that all of the changes were entirely positive, so it just one of those “Well, we’ll work with it while we can, and try to make it better,” but it doesn’t always work.

LD: So other than Core, what are some of the general education requirements that Scripps has?

DT: We have a Gender and Women’s Studies requirement, we also have Social Sciences, and a hard science with a lab. There is a Literature and History requirement I believe, there’s a language requirement which is different from all of the other five [colleges]—we’re the only one that has three semesters required of a language, which is really cool. I feel like I’m missing one, but I don’t know what I’m missing. Yeah, there are a lot of requirements.

LD: So have you had the opportunity to take classes off-campus?

DT: Yeah, I’ve actually taken a class at every single campus as of this semester. I’m taking my first Mudd class in religious studies which has been a lot of fun—slightly different because they make a lot of nerdy jokes in class, but it’s really good. I have taken mostly CMC and Pomona classes as I am a psychology major and they have a really good psychology program down there. I have just really enjoyed having different professors, as well as you get a lot more males in the class off-campus, so you get that kind of influence as well. I know that Pitzer classes are more focused on projects and doing things outside of the classroom, whereas Scripps is very much writing papers and thinking very deeply. And Pomona and CMC are a mix of the two. We actually conducted our own experiment in one of my Pomona classes where we had groups of three and we did empirical research and we wrote it up, and that was our final paper. So that was a lot of fun and kind of like combining the two. Yeah, it’s just been really cool to have those different experiences and professors.

34:55

LD: Do you think having guys in the class changes the dynamic of the classroom?

DT: I think it definitely brings a different perspective as well. I appreciate having different inputs, just thinking about things in different ways than I normally do. It’s not necessarily a male/female divide, but just having different background experiences. I know that taking gender classes at Scripps, it’s very different having men in the classroom versus not. But I just feel like it’s more balanced and you can get a wider perspective of ideas and someone will catch something that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise by having that input.

LD: Is there anything else about your experience that you have had at Scripps that you would like to add?

DT: I just think that Scripps has been very helpful in me finding my way as a scholar, as a person, just realizing, “What do I like? What do I not like?” realizing study habits, and my sleep schedule that you don’t normally have that much freedom in high school to figure out. I think it’s been a really good experience and I’m glad I came here.

LD: Well, thank you very much for taking the time to share with us!

DT: No problem!