VOL. CXXXVI NO. 10

CSWA and Motley discuss future of coffeehouse’s decoration policy at town hall

KEEANA VILLAMAR & JOELLE RUDOLF

On Tuesday, Nov. 12, Scripps College’s Motley Coffeehouse and the Claremont Student Worker Alliance (CSWA) held a town hall discussion about the coffeehouse’s newly blank walls and its next steps in regaining autonomy over the space.

This discussion comes one day after the Motley’s official reopening, which followed a nearly monthlong closure. Scripps administrators initially shut down operations on Oct. 5 after weeks of conflict with the Motley student management team over pro-Palestinian organizing within the space.

Prior to this shutdown, the Motley’s walls were adorned with activist-oriented visuals: posters reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Trans Lives Matter,” artwork calling attention to imperial violence in the Congo, Sudan and Palestine and several different national flags.

But when over 50 students filled the coffeehouse at Tuesday’s town hall, the walls were blank.

“There is just something so inherently haunting about that, and about coming into this space and seeing the way it’s completely shifted,” a Motley manager, who requested anonymity because of the backlash that they said management has received, told TSL. “Over three years of working here, the walls have never looked like this.”

Attendees shared similar feelings on a piece of white butcher paper spread out across the Motley’s tables as speakers opened the town hall discussion.

Speakers began by discussing Scripps’ Advertising, Publicity and Solicitation Policy, which the administration previously accused the coffeehouse of violating after it displayed a Palestinian flag on one of its walls. The policy requires approval for any flyers in or on college-owned property and restricts the display of authorized materials to designated

spaces. “The Motley’s decorations never before had to have any pre-approval,” one CSWA speaker said. “The flyer policy is not relevant to the [Palestinian] flag and doesn’t make sense.”

Speakers explained that, in reopening, the administration gave the Motley the choice to either do so with blank walls or with the implementation of an “open call” for decoration. According to several Motley managers, this suggestion was perceived as vague and confusing. While not confirmed by the

Consortium-wide planned power outage to expedite

Robert Day Science Center construction

KAHANI MALHOTRA & RHEA SETHI

On Sunday, Dec. 1, the 5Cs will experience a planned power outage from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The outage comes one day before a senior thesis deadline at Claremont McKenna College, and a handful of days before finals week. According to CMC’s Senior Project

Manager Andres Ramirez, the outage is necessary to expedite the construction of the CMC Robert Day Sciences Center, which will house the college’s new Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences. “As work progresses on the Robert Day Sciences Center, one of

administration, managers assumed that an “open call” would enable the entire 5C community to come in and hang whatever they wanted on the coffeehouse’s walls.

One Motley barista, who requested anonymity due to privacy concerns, equated the implementation of this call to “releasing the autonomy over the space that the Motley team has had for over 50 years.” They added that an open call would contradict the Motley’s mission.

“It would release or significantly undermine our commitment to uplifting and centering marginalized

voices, which is exactly what makes the Motley more than a business and makes our community feel safe,” the barista said in an interview with TSL.

The barista also emphasized that the Motley’s current undecorated state is unprecedented in its history and that it should not be normalized. To them, the walls are meant to be fun, vibrant and a demonstration of the coffeehouse’s values.

In an effort to return the Motley’s walls to their previously decorated state, coffeehouse workers drafted and presented a new

decoration proposal to the Scripps administration that is currently pending a response.

Speakers at the town hall explained that the Motley’s proposed policy aims to return control over the space to Motley staff while also incorporating elements of the admin-proposed open call. The policy would encourage customers to use a coffeehouse blackboard as a “free speech zone,” rather than leaving every wall open for public use.

The speakers also highlighted the role Motley customers and the great-

See MOTLEY on page 4

Surmounting a 28-7 deficit, Saghens steal SCIAC title in closing moments

OLIVER SCHOENING

On Nov. 16 at Merritt Field, the Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) football team fought back from a 28-7 halftime deficit against the Chapman University Panthers to secure the program’s second-ever SCIAC

championship with a 37-34 comeback victory.

The Sagehens won the coin toss and elected to defer, with Chapman immediately pouncing on the opportunity, stringing together an efficient rushing attack to take a 7-0 lead just four minutes into the first quarter.

Despite P-P’s first offensive drive starting off with a couple of efficient carries from quarterback Grady Russo PZ ’27, the Hens were eventually stopped, unable to convert a fourthdown running play.

CoURTeSY: SCRIPPS CoLLeGe

Scripps College’s motley Coffeehouse and the Claremont Student Worker Alliance held

coffeehouse following its reopening.

CoURTeSY: CLARemoNT mCKeNNA CoLLeGe

A 5C-wide power outage scheduled for Dec. 1, one day before CmC’s senior thesis deadline and days before finals week, is raising concerns among students. Scan

SARAH

Harvey Mudd professor awarded USDA grant to advance forest evaluation economics

CHLOE ESHAGH

The research of an assistant professor at Harvey Mudd College recently received a $799,343 three-year grant funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Biden administration.

Dede Long, assistant professor of economics at Harvey Mudd College, is a co-principal investigator (PI) on the federal grant. According to Long, the grant is highly competitive and has an acceptance rate of around 12 percent.

PI David Kling, an economist at Oregon State University (OSU), is leading the project alongside landscape ecologists at OSU and an economist and fire ecologist from the U.S. Forest Service. The project aims to develop a model for assigning an economic value to forests by analyzing market and non-market benefits.

Doing this will help convey the importance of forests to economists and policymakers, Long explained.

“Understanding the real value brought by the environmental goods and services like biodiversity could help us to inform policy decision-making,” Long said.

Long’s research uses stated preference surveys — a research method that asks people to make decisions in hypothetical situations — to assess how people value ecosystems. Surveys will be randomly distributed to people in Oregon, Washington and California to gather diverse perspectives.

“We’re asking people, ‘How much are you willing to pay for these kinds of policies in terms of taxes or other kinds of costs?’” Long said. “This is important because biodiversity is not something that we actually buy from a market.”

The grant is part of the Biden administration’s initiative to better integrate the management of natural resources into economic planning. Following former President Donald Trump’s election to a second term, Long and her team are actively discussing the

future of their project under the incoming administration.

During his previous term, Trump reversed several environmental policies, including those affecting forest ecosystems. This included removing protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest and expediting approvals for oil and gas drilling in national forests.

“It will probably be harder for people like me to get future grants under the Trump administration because the administration is going to change their direction,” Long said. “Climate change and environment will not really be the priority anymore.”

Still, Long remains hopeful for a more climate-focused future and is already noticing that students are increasingly aware of environmental issues and climate change.

Students at the Claremont Colleges will be able to participate in research with Long and contribute to developing the model for placing value on forests. In the first-year budget, there is room for two students to participate and to learn about how economists use different tools to understand what value natural resources provide to their community.

“I haven’t heard about a lot of research opportunities within environmental analysis and economics, so actual research opportunities that will have an impact rather than just a sterile lab collecting data would be really nice for students,” economics major Raina Alhamoodah SC ’28 said.

Interest in this research also extends to students in environmental science. Caroline Cappetto SC ’28, a prospective environmental science major, said that the research opportunity will give students a chance to pursue something with tangible effects.

“There should be a focus on opportunities for students that will make an impact and actually help to conserve the environment,” Cappetto said.

Pomona announces Olivia Calvi as new lead deputy Title IX Coordinator

MACY PUCKETT

Pomona College has hired Olivia Calvi as the lead deputy Title IX Coordinator for the Title IX and Campus Advocacy, Resources, Education and Support (CARES) Office. The announcement came in a Nov. 12 email to the Pomona community from Associate Dean and Title IX Coordinator Destiny Marrufo.

Calvi has a Master’s degree in social work from the University of Montana. She previously worked at the counseling center at The Webb Schools in Claremont, where she advised the LGBTQ+ affinity group and

taught curriculum centered around healthy coping mechanisms, identity and intersectionality and comprehensive sex education.

“[Calvi’s Master of Social Work] background and history working with clients in a mental health capacity equip her with the necessary skills to be a trauma-informed, neutral resource for folks looking to connect with our office,” Marrufo wrote in a Nov. 11 email to the Pomona community.

In an email to TSL, Calvi said that she is most excited about working in a community of passionate students.

“I take inspiration from the work that other people are doing to help better themselves and the world around them, and it is so incredible to be surrounded by people who are all doing that in the same place, but in such vastly different ways,” Calvi said.

According to Calvi, Campus Advocates and the Title IX and CARES Assistant Director Cynthia Flores will continue to focus on advocacy and education, while she will be working with Marrufo in focusing on policy and support.

“It will take time for me to learn all the ins and outs of the

campus culture, but the more I connect with people on campus, the more prepared I will be to utilize those relationships to best support the needs of the community,” Calvi said.

In her email, Calvi said the most important aspect of supporting survivors in her role is facilitating a space for individuals to have a sense of agency and autonomy throughout the Title IX process.

”In this work, I prioritize creating space for survivors where they feel heard and know that they can safely share their story—space that allows them to take ownership over

their situation and reclaim what is helpful for them to claim,” Calvi said. Calvi said that one of her main goals is to help demystify and destigmatize Title IX on campus. She added that she hopes that students will engage with Title IX and CARES through a moment of prevention first, not reaction.

“The more students and community members engage in prevention, the closer we are to ensuring a campus environment where we are truly looking out for one another and holding high standards of community care,” Calvi said.

Olivia Calvi, who

CoURTeSY: HARveY mUDD CoLLeG

Dede Long, an assistant professor of economics at Harvey mudd College, is contributing to research on the economic value of forests to help inform policymaking on protecting the environment.

2024: A year in review at the Claremont Colleges Palestine protest-related news

MOTL eY: Town hall hosts discussion on coffeehouse’s decoration policy

er 5C community hold in staying informed about the situation and recognizing their own part in the ongoing negotiations with administration. This involves attending future town hall meetings and getting involved with CSWA, they said.

“At the very least, when you come in to get your coffee, recognize that every single person behind that bar was put out of a job a month ago,” the anonymous Motley manager told TSL.

Speakers then pointed to an anonymously created petition to support Motley workers in their ability to decorate the coffeehouse independently.

“The Motley is open right now, but without autonomy,” a CSWA speaker said.

A little over a week after the town hall discussion, on Nov. 20, Scripps President Amy Marcus-Newhall addressed the updated status of Motley-administration negotiations in an email to the Scripps college community.

In addition to highlighting progress made between the Motley staff and administrative members, Marcus-Newhall also corrected inaccurate

information that she shared when announcing the coffeehouse’s closure on Oct. 5.

“I regret the harm and stress the Motley student staff experienced due to inaccurate and delayed information,” she wrote.

“Although the Motley student staff and the College have differing perspectives on the other reasons justifying the closure of the Motley, both groups are committed to continuing conversations to clarify and codify policies, operations, roles, and responsibilities for the Motley’s future operations.”

Marcus Newhall’s email acknowledged the Motley’s newly proposed decoration policy, something that one Motley manager, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons, perceived as a sign that the college is committed to reviewing it.

“I wouldn’t say that everything’s settled,” they said. “I think we still have a long way to go, and I think they know that too.

But I think that they’ve heard us, and we’ve heard them, and I think we’re all still trying to repair the harm that was the Motley’s closure.”

POWER: Planned 5C power outage comes amid finals and CMC thesis deadline

of the critical components is the providing of power to the building,” Ramirez said in an email to the CMC community on Oct. 8. “In order to accomplish this, there will need to be a consortium wide power outage in order to make the final connections to the building and the power substation.”

The Dec. 1 date was unavoidable, CMC’s Dean of Students team said in an email to students the following day.

“This time was selected by the Consortium and considered a variety of factors including when Southern California Edison, the power company, would be available for the work,” they said.

CMC Dean of Students Jimmy Doan gave insight into why the thesis deadline could not be shifted.

“There’s no ideal date to ever shut down, right?” Doan said. “Thesis party is set for three o’clock on Dec. 2, so plans are already in place for that. There’s ripple effects for faculty, if you move the date of thesis and all the work that readers and whatnot are doing already.”

Reactions from seniors, according to Doan, have ranged from neutral to even positive.

Margo Cohen CM ’24 said she believes the outage is a nuisance, but not a major obstacle. Cohen, who is writing a yearlong thesis,

must submit the first chapter of her thesis the following day after the outage.

“Not everybody is impacted by it, but there certainly is a good amount of people who are,“ Cohen said. “It just requires for people who are impacted to manage time really, really well and know exactly what you need to do before that Sunday.”

Once it was clear that the date of the outage was set, Doan said that he and the DOS team began working to ensure students would “have the best support and least disruption possible” during the outage.

125 students are completing their fall thesis at CMC this semester. While approximately half of them live in the Senior or Alexan Kendry Apartments where they will have access to Wi-Fi, the other half cannot rely on their dorms as powered spaces.

As Collins Dining Hall is run on a backup generator, Facilities and Campus Services worked with DOS and Dining Services to create an additional workspace for students within it.

“We are setting up Collins to be used for students needing a powered workspace for the duration of the outage, including outside of mealtimes,” DOS said in their Oct. 9 email to students. “We’ll provide additional power strips, printers, and reliable Wi-Fi to ensure you have everything you need to continue work with charged devices.”

To get the input of thesis writers about what support they would need during the outage, DOS has been engaging in outreach, both in casual one-on-one conversations and through surveying. During CMC’s Thesis Surge on Sunday, Oct. 27 — a tradition during which seniors come together to collectively write thesis with a track kept of pages written and read — the Academic Success team surveyed students on their progress and needs, and two-thirds mentioned that another workspace on campus aside from Collins would be a helpful resource. This discussion resulted in facilities creating plans to power CMC’s Adams Hall which holds Poppa Computer Lab.

Doan clarified other measures put in place to ensure as little disruption as possible for CMC students, thesis writers and others.

“[The outage] is all daylight hours, so while students won’t have power to light their rooms, there should be daylight,” Doan said. “Collins will continue to be a space where students can plug in phones and laptops. Access to buildings will not be impacted at all, so students can hang out in lounges.”

Now finishing his first semester as CMC’s Dean of Students, Doan said this experience was an invigorating one.

“There’s something cool about seeing a community of staff kind think creatively about something, and be able to work on that together and create a solution,” Doan said.

5C5K Wellness Fair hosts race and features student-led

booths

AUDREY PARK & ELLIE LAKATOS

On Friday, Nov. 15, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Recreation hosted the annual 5C5K Wellness Fair. The 3.1-mile race began at 12:00 p.m. at Zinda Field, taking participants through all five of the Claremont Colleges before concluding at the Wellness Fair outside Roberts Pavilion, which featured booths with food and wellness-related activities led by students and local businesses.

Race participants were given the option to run, walk or bike, with some participants receiving t-shirts after successfully completing the race.

Although the race began under hailing conditions that quick -

ly shifted to rain, the weather cleared by the end of the event.

Jonathan Hernandez PO ’28, a participant in the race, discussed the challenges that the rain posed for the run.

“[The race] did get a bit hard around the second mile just because there were so many pools of water around and we had to jump or stop and walk around them which sort of put a halt to some of the rhythms we were getting into when we were running,” Hernandez said.

Naomi Locala PO ’25, another participant, was surprised by the harsh weather.

“We were definitely not expecting the extreme weather, but it made it fun,” Locala said. “Classic Claremont weather.”

Locala, who ran the race with her friend, Jade Hudson CM ’25, said the race gave them a great opportunity to compete together. Both are swimmers, but Locala swims for Pomona-Pitzer (PP) and Hudson swims for CMS.

Hudson said they have always wanted to run the race, noting the bonus of the free prizes at the wellness fair.

“We thought for our senior year, we should take the opportunity together,” Hudson said.

“The free acai and booths are also really nice and a big motivation.”

Some students and community members also attended the race to support those competing, including Sophia Prosper CM ’27, who said she was cheering for her two friends.

“I needed to support them rain or shine,” Prosper said. “I had to show up and show out. I’m going to sit and read and track their locations, and I’ll be there to support them at the finish line.”

The Wellness Fair featured various booths centered around both mental and physical wellness. One booth offered attendees supplies for making facial masks, while another provided them with acai from Ubatuba. The booths also provided attendees with much-needed shelter from the rain.

Elisa Laloudakis SC ’26, a Tiernan Peer Health Educator, ran the facial mask booth. Laloudakis said the event was a fun way to promote important health-related topics like destressing and relaxation.

“There’s a heavy workload with being a student and people just have life going on, so it can be hard to juggle all of it,” Laloudakis said. “It’s important to prioritize yourself and engage in these small but fun activities.”

Hernandez similarly shared appreciation for the event. In addition to providing an outlet for his love of running, Hernandez said that the race lived up to its name because its route passed through each of the 5Cs.

“I think that [the race] was really great because we all did it here at the 5Cs,” Hernandez said. “We all sort of knew each other and we were very supportive of each other and that was something I really appreciated about this particular 5K.”

THE STUDENT LIFE

eLLIe LAKAToS • THe STUDeNT LIFe

On Friday, Nov. 15, CMS Recreation hosted the annual 5C5K Wellness Fair, which took participants through all five of the Claremont Colleges before concluding at the Wellness Fair outside Roberts Pavilion.

Gazan poet Yahya Ashour at Pitzer

‘The Right to Look’: A talk with Professor Behdad on Orientalism and the dangers of ‘objective’ photography

Dr. Ali Behdad, UCLA literature professor and director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, gave a talk titled “The Right to Look: Photography and Colonial Vision” on Nov. 14 at Pomona College’s Rose Hills Theater, addressing the ways photography perpetuates power dynamics.

Behdad argued that the very origins of photography in the Middle East were created to uphold a colonial relation of power, specifically by the British and French empires.

“[The talk centered around] understanding both the past and contemporary history of photography and the photograph as a weapon and gaze, either for or against white supremacist racialization,” Zyad Sibai PO ’25, co-president of the Pomona Student Union (PSU), said.

The event, organized and moderated by Nadia Hsu PO ’27, board member of PSU, aimed to make this critical history accessible to students.

“[In organizing this talk] I tried to find ways to make this history feel accessible and relevant to students, not too academic and distant,” Hsu said.

Behdad’s presentation encompassed both landscape and portrait depictions of the Middle East. He explained how people often view photography as an objective art.

Historically, landscape photographs of the Middle East often portray a religious and reflective utopia frozen in time. Others depict big deserts and city ruins, which perpetuate the idea that the Middle Eastern culture is a stagnant backdrop, one that is no longer progressing.

“I found it really interesting when he talked about how Europeans would take photos of ruins and use them to show an ‘Oriental’ country as stuck in the past, in order to justify their exploitation or occupation of that country,” Hsu said.

These photos acted as catalysts for colonial powers to view the Middle East as a civilization in need of their help. Portrait photographers, and oftentimes the viewer, exoticize street merchants and clothed women. Behdad pointed out that the popularization of these images was largely due to tourist postcards and collectible photographs.

“What stuck with me the most, and what I hope people in the audience took away, was how central images are to power and to everything we experience and consume,” Hsu said.

Hsu said that the talk made clear

that there is no neutral way of looking at people, so reproduced portraits can never be looked at neutrally either. Specifically for these photographs, rooted in white colonial powers, there will always be an implication of a power imbalance.

“Photography as an art form can be a tool of surveillance and a tool of resistance, both of which can be weaponized to represent a ‘truth,’” Sibai said.

Behdad ended the presentation with a series of artists who have used photography to try to progress the feminist movement within the Middle East. One such photographer Shirin Neshat covered her subjects’ bodies in henna of feminist scriptures and poems as an act of resistance against the fetishization of Middle Eastern women. Behdad pointed out the normalization of this colonial lens.

He outlined the progression from the tourist postcards and the messages they pushed, to modern-day art forms still being misinterpreted by professionals.

Following the presentation, Hsu spoke with Behdad about the relevance of photography in today’s world. Behdad said we need to bear witness to the images we consume online, and how it is the responsibility of the viewer to scrutinize them.

“What he said can definitely be applied to everyone who constantly, on a daily level, consumes photos of violence or suffering on our social media or news feeds … using the idea of the camera as a weapon as a framework to look at the photos coming out of Gaza and Lebanon,” Hsu said.

Students participated in the discussion, asking for advice on how to navigate a world where images can be too subjective.

“One of the things that Dr. Behdad emphasized was how really pervasive Orientalist narratives still are. We need to not look at Orientalism and colonialism and their visual products as only objects of study, only things distant from us.” Hsu said.

“Consumers of art and consumers of photography [should] challenge their own gaze and understand that objectivity in photographs is never real,” Sibai said.

Editor’s note: Nadia Hsu is the Arts & Culture Columns Editor on TSL’s senior staff.

CHARLOTTE HAHM

On Nov. 18, over 75 students, faculty and community members filed into Pitzer College’s Benson Auditorium for Gazan poet Yahya Ashour’s reading “A Gaza of Siege and Genocide.” The collection features poems Ashour has written since being exiled from Gaza, which appear in the book alongside his own illustrations.

Pitzer English professor Brent Armendinger organized the reading with support from Pitzer’s Dean’s Office and the Melvin L. Oliver Racial Justice Initiative.

Armendinger worked alongside other professors and faculty to bring Gazan professors to Pitzer, including Ashour and visiting linguistics professor Jamal Alshareef. Ashour will step into the role of visiting professor in Pitzer’s English and World Literature department in Spring 2025.

Ashour is an award-winning poet and author who has been living in exile from his home since the beginning of Israel’s intensified military assault on Gaza that escalated last October. He has presented his work to over 50 organizations and universities such as Stanford, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

Ashour’s writing paints a striking image of the realities of Israel’s sustained attack on Gaza. He parses through the violence by centering the experiences of Gazans, including

his own. His work takes up the challenging task of representing loss, violence and other issues that seem to elude representation.

“I hope students think about the ways that poetry can address issues in a way that is meaningful and perhaps otherwise difficult to communicate,” he said. “Poetry is not only about beauty. It’s something that can be used to build awareness and solidarity as well.”

The audience remained silent and entranced for 30 minutes as Ashour recited excerpts from his collection. Ashour read each poem in uninterrupted succession. He later mentioned that he often makes minor changes to the text as he recites it, each poem being continuously remade at the moment of its utterance.

“In Gaza, / people are blessed / with darkness / while they wait for missiles / to rain down on them / and have their wounds / healed once and for all,” reads one of Ashour’s poems.

“When I read or listen to Yahya, I feel like I cannot turn away,” Armendinger said.

Following the reading, Armendinger and Ashour took to the stage for a Q&A. Ashour provided insight into his writing, sharing anecdotes about his life and the experiences that have shaped his poetry.

Ashour’s work is available in over five different languages. He previously disliked translating his

SCIeNCe AS A HUmAN eNDeAvor

own poems, until he discovered a new understanding of his poetry in the act of translation.

“I was like, ‘I know this is hard, I know I hate this, but I have to do it. I have to bring these poems from Arabic to English in my voice.’ And I did it, ” Ashour said. “I discovered that when I translate myself to English, or from English to Arabic, that I understand my poetry more, and that I can see my poetry through another lens that I can’t see when I’m writing.”

Ashour spoke to the importance of a wider community of Gazan poets, referencing conversations with a fellow poet from Gaza who served as a mentor in his life. He often left their conversations in tears, whether from happiness or frustration.

“We talked for hours, like almost seven hours, and I’m not exaggerating,” he said. “We’d often go early into the morning because he would be really tough when it came to poetry.”

Ashour has been a mentee but also assumed the role of mentor, teaching young children and adults creative writing and literacy skills in organizations in Gaza.

In the spring, Ashour will instruct two courses titled “Poetic Arts: Creative Writing” and “Finding Gaza: Creative Writing – Poetry.”

“Growing up in Gaza and living there my whole life except for the last year, I was always wondering, ‘How could anyone survive the siege without poetry?” Ashour asked. “Without reading poetry? Without writing poetry?’”

A professor’s call to humanize science education

Ask any physics major at Pomona College about their first lab with professor Elijah Quetin, and you’ll see their face light up with excitement. I first encountered his approach to physics during PHYS 070 my freshman year, when Quetin challenged us to measure the speed of sound without relying on modern measuring devices.

The constraint sparked remarkable creativity. My group ended up timing echoes using the distance between campus buildings, with one person clapping while I paced out the distance in “Gabe feet” (much to my amusement).

Another group, perhaps showing more sophistication, cleverly used the steady drip-drip-drip of a leaky water fountain as their metronome, timing how long it took for a shout to travel down the hallway. Some might call our methods crude, but there was a certain brilliance in their simplicity. After all, this kind of resourceful thinking of making do with whatever tools were at hand, was exactly how the early pioneers of science worked.

But what transformed Quetin’s challenge from a mere physics exercise into a profound learning experience was his next surprise. He showed us Newton’s original “Principia” text, where the famous physicist had undertaken the same challenge as us, with similarly limited tools.

As we gathered around the historical text, comparing Newton’s methods to our own attempts, I understood what Quetin had been teaching us about the true nature of scientific thinking.

“The knowing that truly matters doesn’t reside in encyclopedias, hard drives, universities, corporations or textbooks. It lives in human souls, collectively,” he would later explain.

His exercise wasn’t just about measuring sound, it was about experiencing firsthand how scientific discovery actually unfolds: through creativity, constraints and human ingenuity.

Such moments exemplify Quetin’s unique approach to physics education. In his office lined with both scientific and philosophical texts, he often contemplates why his students are studying science.

“About half of all science students get into their subjects for very philosophical or even spiritual reasons,” he said. “Then the curriculum abandons them to busy work without any time to ponder what it is they’re doing and why.”

Quetin’s observation resonates with my journey to majoring in physics. I remember first being captivated by physics not because of equations, but profound questions: What makes the universe tick?

How do we exist within this vast, mysterious system? Yet my early coursework often felt like solving intricate puzzles with no room to marvel at the larger picture.

Take the concept of temperature, for instance. We think of temperature as a simple measurement, but it’s actually a profound abstraction.

“Temperature” is a human invention — a way of making sense of countless tiny particles moving and bumping into each other.

A thermometer doesn’t actually measure heat; it measures how those molecular movements affect a column of mercury or a digital sensor. It’s an approximation of something far more complex than a simple number can capture.

Concepts like temperature reveal the real essence of physics — not just equations, but tools for understanding the invisible patterns underlying our reality.

Quetin’s own wrestling with these fundamental concepts reveals the depth of his approach.

“As an astrophysicist, I’m still, and will forever be, trying to figure

out what I mean when I say ‘the universe’ or ‘the sun,’” he said. “I would trust most poets, artists, farmers, etc. over scientists when it comes to describing the nature out there beyond the science.”

Quetin’s call for his students to question physics has fundamentally reshaped how my fellow physics students and I go about our learning. For instance, we recently revived a Physics and Philosophy reading group that had languished since 2019. Now meeting weekly to explore profound questions, with Quetin sometimes joining our discussions, the group has quickly expanded to 28 students within just three weeks of its relaunch.

“The most important things happening within a student are far too complex and beautiful to be captured by data,” Quetin reflected. “It might be just a fleeting moment of awe, or it might percolate within the student for decades.”

Science, at its core, is a deeply human endeavor — a collective journey of curiosity, creativity and connection. It’s about more than equations and measurements; it’s a way of understanding our world that invites us to marvel, to question and to participate in the unfolding of knowledge.

“What I wish all my students to take away from my classes,” Quetin said, “is awe and gratitude that they get to be alive on this wonderful planet, to share and care for the biosphere and participate in the unfolding of the universe.”

In these words lies the crux of a transformative scientific education: one that sees knowledge not as a cold collection of data, but as a living, breathing engagement with the world around us. It’s an invitation to see science not as a distant pursuit, but as a deeply personal and profoundly meaningful way of experiencing our extraordinary existence.

Gabriel Brenner PO ’26 loves exploring the human aspects of science.

GABRIEL BRENNER

SHIXIAo YU • THe STUDeNT LIFe

CoUrTeSY: DJ PoSILLICo

AUDREY GREEN

CHArLoTTe HAHm • THe STUDeNT LIFe

At Pitzer’s benson auditorium, Gazan poet and incoming visiting professor Yahya Ashour read excerpts of his collection “A Gaza of Siege and Genocide.” The poems, written after his exile from Gaza, address themes of grief and violence.

LinkedIn culture at the 5Cs

LinkedIn, a professional networking platform, is commonly used at the 7Cs and by students nationwide. The app has become increasingly vital in navigating the job market. As of 2020, 58 percent of undergraduate students credit LinkedIn as a useful asset in their job search. In 2023, 80 percent of professionals said they view a candidate’s presence on LinkedIn to assess their eligibility for a job.

“Many people feel drawn to LinkedIn for its necessity,” Ava Hinz SC ’25, managing director of Pomona Consulting Group, said.

‘The

“LinkedIn can bring meaningful connections, provide crucial information on job postings, and allow students to maintain awareness on market trends.”

Alongside its capabilities to connect with like-minded professionals, the app has become a place for college students to promote their accomplishments.

“I think most people use [LinkedIn] for their public image,” Kaili Shoop PZ ’27, a member of Pitzer Investment Society, said. “It’s just another form of social media.”

Many users have turned their own resume into another facet of

their online persona.

“I also think that our generation is very accustomed to creating online presences and tailoring our approach and profile to the specific app,” Hinz said. “We have apps that track essentially everything, like Beli for what restaurants we go to and Letterboxd for what films we have watched, so why should we not have an app that records our professional accomplishments?”

Shoop added, however, that achievements can – and often are – embellished.

“A lot of people either lie about their experience or over-exagger-

ate their experience so I don’t really think there is much transparency, but it definitely adds competition,” Shoop said.

In addition to displaying their own accomplishments, users can also endorse the accomplishments of others on the platform.

Students can reach a potential audience far beyond their immediate circle, making it easier for students to compare resumes and end up discouraged.

“As someone that has not worked for a large, internationally known company like many other students at the 5Cs have, I’m more anxious about how others perceive me and the value I can bring to jobs even though I have a strong breadth of experience,” Hinz said.

With ever-expanding job opportunities and career paths comes the pressure to excel in hustle culture.

Professional jargon is endemic to LinkedIn networking culture.

Though college students care less about reaching a wide audience and more on the curation of their self-image, some students adopt a more professional tone on LinkedIn.

When LinkedIn users announce career accomplishments, there is often a protocol that many students adopt for self-promotion to potential employers.

“[The language on LinkedIn] definitely doesn’t feel super authentic to me.” Patricia Eskenazi SC ’26, vice president of Scripps College Mock Trial, said.

Eskenazi said she saw an inauthenticity inherent to professional culture.

“I prefer to get to know people on a more authentic level, and I wish professional development were more based on merit than ability to network … [but] the reality is that we do live in a world where people often have to network and hustle for jobs,” Eskenazi said. “LinkedIn does offer a good opportunity for

people to connect with others they know easily.”

Although many poke fun at the promotional language, the culture of competition can be stressful for students.

“LinkedIn can feed into a competitive culture since there’s a temptation to compare yourself to your peers,” Eskenazi said. “People might feel stressed if they think that they haven’t ‘done’ as much as the average person in their position.”

In this way, it functions like Instagram and many other apps that are heavily critiqued for causing comparison amongst other college students. Yet some use this anxiety as fuel for their professional pursuits.

“I would look on peoples’ LinkedIn and see all these internships and research and all these experiences that I didn’t have, and that gave me a lot of anxiety,” Shoop said. “But for me, it was like a wake up call. So now, I got a research opportunity and I got an internship, but if I didn’t see all of those people getting those experiences, I don’t think I would be in the position I am in today. But, it is a bit unhealthy to think that way.”

The consensus among many students is that LinkedIn has contributed to a professional culture that increases access to opportunities. However, the pressure of the modern job market and the need to be “professional” can make the platform uninviting.

As Gen Z uses more casual language as they enter the workplace, this professional linguistic bent may diminish.

“Recently I have been commenting in a more casual way, not in a phony way,” Shoop said. “I think that is actually better because you are being yourself and you are not doing what everybody else is doing which is saying things like ‘Well deserved!’... When you would never say these things in person.”

Play that Goes Wrong’ showcases commitment

From Nov. 15 to 17, Pomona College Theater’s fall mainstage production of “The Play That Goes Wrong” delivered nonstop audience laughter and onstage chaos. Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields and directed by Tim Giles and Bobby Gutierrez, the comedy is a play-within-a-play that depicts the misadventures of a theater group attempting to stage a murder mystery, “The Murder at Haversham Manor.”

The actors of a fictional theater group, the Byron Dick Seaver Musical Puppetry and Drama Association (BDSM PDA), were plagued by mishaps. Charles Haversham was found dead on the evening of his own engagement party. Havoc ensued as Inspector Carter investigated, culminating in the entire set collapsing. Although the plot of the murder mystery was suspenseful, audience laughs came from endless on-stage blunders, constant fourth-wall breaks and theatricality. From falling platforms to improvised lines, the commitment to the bit was admirable.

Stella Adler SC ’27, one of the play’s technicians, said the play corresponds exactly to her sense of humor. She played one of the stage crew members of the drama society, staging the mishaps on the set and occasionally making

cameos.

“I enjoy how utterly nonsensical it is in terms of [how] most of the things that go wrong could have been solved in the real world if these people had ever rehearsed … in the story world of the play,”Adler said. “The suspension of disbelief and the ridiculousness of it all … I highly enjoy [it].”

Many scenes included intentionally botched dialogue. Actors playing the fictional cast regularly mispronounced words like “ominous,” “suicide” and “morose,” called for forgotten lines mid-scene and froze into melodramatic poses during dramatic musical cues.

The director of the fictional play, Chris Bean, played by Eliza Levy PZ ’26, introduced the production in a farcically theatrical way, peppered with meta-jokes surrounding other theatrical productions.

“For the first time in this society’s history, we have a play that fits the number of players perfectly,” Levy said. “A lack of members has sometimes tempered such productions … such as last year’s Chekhov Play ‘Two Sisters.’”

The humor extended to plot absurdities. In one standout sequence, Charles Haversham — played by Nicholas Russell PO ’26 — played dead while other characters repeatedly hit Charles

to the bit

and even accidentally sat on him. Russell intentionally broke character at times. Later, during an attempt to move his “body” upstairs following Inspector Carter’s investigation, the stretcher broke, leading to a gag where Russell had to follow the stretcher and reposition himself on it before playing dead again. In another scene, the inspec -

tor asked the butler Perkins — played by Petey Graham CM ’25 — to serve scotch to Charles’ brother Cecil Haversham and Charles’ fiancee Florence Colleymore. Perkins instead served them paint thinner. The mishap escalated when Perkins delivered an incorrect line, triggering an increasingly frenetic loop of the same scene.

After Florence and Cecil were revealed to be having an affair, the inspector accused Cecil of Charles’ murder. Florence’s brother fatally shot Cecil in the back. The stage manager then stepped in after the original actress was knocked out by a door, to much audience uproar.

The physical comedy continued to escalate — the upstairs platform began to collapse after the gardener, pretending to be a guard dog, knocked down its support. Evidence implicated Florence in the murder; they call the stage manager back, but chaos erupts as both the stage manager and the original actress fought for the role. By the end, the entire set fell apart. The inspector was revealed to be the murderer and Charles came back to life, shooting the inspector to death. Florence’s brother was also revealed to be an accomplice.

”Let us hope we never see another murder at Haversham Manor,” Charles proclaimed.

The production’s technical execution impressed many audience members.

“When the set started to fall apart, it was an incredible piece of theater craftsmanship,” Grace Trautwein SC ’28 said. “I… liked the scene where they kept repeating over and over the exact same language.”

Sahil Rane HM ’25 was equally entertained by the platform’s collapse.

“The little study falling down was really good, and when [Thomas] jumped out of the elevator in the tower … that was crazy,” Rane said.

AUDREY GREEN

SHIXIAo YU • THe STUDeNT LIFe

ANANYA VINAY

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Coping with the election with ‘Saw’

NIKO KAY SMITH

The week following Nov. 5, I oscillated between complete numbness and waves of crushing anxiety. The world no longer made sense to me; it all felt like a queasy dream.

So that weekend, unmoored from self and sanity, I did what I swore to never do: I watched “Saw” (2004).

Last month marked the 20th anniversary of the bloody birth of the original “Saw” movie, and the subsequent renaissance (or renaisSAWnce) of interest in the now 10 film-long franchise could not have come at a better time.

“Saw” was there for me when I needed it most. When the idea of bubble baths or meditation apps couldn’t calm me down, that zesty little puppet tricycled into my life with an offer of escapist fantasy.

For 90 minutes, put reality aside and chew on this perfect premise: Two men wake up chained in a filthy bathroom with a dead body on the floor between them. They deduce that they are the latest victims of Jigsaw, a mysterious killer who traps people who don’t appreciate their lives in gruesome games that test their will to survive. The men have six hours to figure out how to win the game, or die. When I started my journey into horror sophomore year, “Saw” represented everything about the genre I wanted to avoid: a meanspirited, trashy gore-fest. I only watched sophisticated, respectable horror, like “Hereditary” (2018) or, uh, “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” (1987).

But I was wrong about you, “Saw.” In addition to the formal note of apology I hand-delivered to actor and director Leigh Whannell’s house, I want to use my column to make things right.

Although the “Saw” franchise is often considered one of the pioneers of the early 2000s “torture porn” trend, the original installment is more of a twisty bottle thriller with occasional scenes that make you say “yeowch” and “owie” and things of that nature. But there are just as many scenes that keep the gory money shot mostly out of frame – a practice that does not continue in the sequels.

But its lack of torture porn doesn’t stop “Saw” from giving us some of the most iconic and sphincter-tightening scenes in horror history. Most enduring is the “reverse bear trap”: In a flashback we meet Amanda, a previous victim of Jigsaw, targeted for her drug addiction (Jigsaw is #problematic for that one). Her punishment is a headset locking her upper and lower jaws in place, which will rip open in 60 seconds if she doesn’t find

the key to unlock it. Doesn’t it feel nice to be stressed about fake problems instead of your own? The insane plot twists, pigs-in-wigs jumpscares and Shawnee Smith’s eye-acting will keep you so on the edge of your seat, you’ll forget you live in a country where the majority of citizens voted against your human rights.

Edited like a nu metal music video, “Saw” is a veritable time capsule of 2004 nostalgia. If you’re tired of living through these unprecedented times, escape to the super chill years of the Bush administration. Remember pagers? Remember wearing long sleeves under T-shirts? Remember being a one-year-old and having absolutely zero awareness of partisan politics? Those were the good days.

If you’re committed to disconnecting from reality even further, Leigh Whannell and Cary Elwes’ bizarre attempts at American accents can push you into a full fantasy world where the United States is not even a real place.

A lot of my friends worry that, with Christian nationalist psychos controlling the Supreme Court, gay marriage could be at risk. That’s a very serious concern, but we have to remember that marriage is a heteropatriarchal institution, and there are many ways to express queer love that transcend traditional marriage. The main characters of “Saw” remind us that radical queer relationships can look like two men rolling on the floor and clutching desperately at each other’s faces while covered in blood. And that’s beautiful.

“Saw” is the perfect escapist movie because it’s nothing like your real life. Saw traps are about having to make choices between two horrific options, like cutting off your own foot with a rusty saw or watching your family die. When you ask why those are the only options, the condescending old man who put you there tells you it’s for your own good. Luckily there’s nothing relatable about that.

And when the game is over and the credits roll, when you have to return to our political reality, try not to get too down about it. If you look like you’re not enjoying life enough, you might end up in a Saw trap of your own.

Niko Kay Smith SC ’25 wishes Billy the puppet had kept his dapper little bowler hat from the original short film.

“A Nightmare on 6th St” is TSL’s horror column, where Niko covers their journey from scaredy cat to rabid horror fan, one movie at a time.

Women and the language of liberation

CLAIRE WELCH

On Election Day, I sat in the back of my Italian cinema class and watched as everyone’s screens darted between class notes and polling numbers.

Scenes from Dario Argento’s 1977 slasher “Suspiria” flashed across the projector as my professor ran around the room, gesturing wildly. If you’ve never seen any of Argento’s “giallo” horror films, picture a cross between the gore of the “Scream” franchise and the whimsical technicolor of Disney’s “Snow White.”

“Tremate, tremate, le streghe sono tornate!” Professoressa Sabrina bellowed across the classroom, quoting the movie. “Tremble, tremble, the witches are coming!”

Film often treads a curious line between fiction and microhistory, and Argento’s horror is a particularly interesting example of this. Amidst the frenzy of polls and anticipation, Sabrina told us about the Italian feminist movement of the 70s — the self-proclaimed witches who stormed the streets of Rome, twisting the language of their oppressors against them in a vital, sustaining protest against the patriarchy.

Not many slasher flicks from the 70s pass the Bechdel test. In “Suspiria,” however, Argento’s coven reflects the spirit of Italy’s “witches,” and their unwillingness to be confined to any singular, flattening role. They are both the pious angels and the wicked witches, both the moral good and the decadent evil.

Sometimes, if you listen closely, you can hear “tremate, tremate” in the background. Sitting in my Italian language class the morning after the election, I felt a different sort of trembling: the nervous, fidgety clack of nails against desks, the stuttering flutter of a leg unable to stay still.

Donald Trump had won. I looked around at all the women in the room, many of whom I’ve seen every day of the week

since we began learning Italian freshman year, and saw this reality reflected in their glassy eyes. Class ended, and as we stepped outside the floodgates broke loose. These women are not my close friends, yet all of a sudden we were crying and hugging each other, holding space for all the hurt we felt together.

The language surrounding the election — campaign materials, conversations between friends and classmates, the rhetoric of professors and clubs — is inflammatory, and it’s everywhere. Up until now, this column has focused only on foreign languages. But as hordes of men across the country begin calling for “your body, my choice,” I find myself thinking about language in more general terms: all the ways it binds us together and tears us apart.

What does it mean to be a woman? A daunting, colossal question, arguably unanswerable in its scope. All I know is that on the morning after the election, I felt more connected to this intangible idea of womanhood than ever. Words of wisdom, words of consolation — the language of my loved ones felt hearty and tangible to me.

From Argento’s allegory of witches to the caring words of Italian classmates, in the aftermath of the election I was struck by how our forms of resistance — that of women, people of color, immigrants, suspended students and more — are so tightly bound to the language we wield.

Over 3,000 years ago, voiceless women living in the isolated hamlets of China’s Hunan province discovered a semblance of this power. Using a coded script, influenced but entirely separate from standard Mandarin, they invented the only writing system in the world created and used exclusively by women.

Confined within the expectations of feudal society, women passed the art of Nushu from mother to daughter, keeping their craft a secret. They called one another “sworn sisters” and preserved the memories of their loved

ones by writing “biographies” for each other, immortalizing the storied lives of women who history would’ve forgotten otherwise. Language is inherently political. It always has been. If ever I need a reminder of this, I look to the words of Palestinian poet Marwan Makhoud: “in order for me to write poetry that isn’t political / i must listen to the birds / and in order to hear the birds / the warplanes must be silent.”

Again and again, when we talk about the power of language in “reclaiming” words and ideas, we get lost in the virtual weeds of clichés and virtue signaling, circling around the primordial tower of political correctness. I don’t want to be told what “female empowerment” is by an Instagram ad asking me to donate to Kamala Harris’ campaign — I want to hear women’s stories.

The streets of Italy in the 1970s: thousands of women taking on “witch” as a badge of honor, tearing holes in the fabric of a male-dominated society. The mountains of China 3,000 years ago: secret communities of mothers and sisters, creating a language to express themselves and be in community together. When I hear these stories, I feel a visceral understanding of what it means to reclaim a language, to use it as both a salve and a weapon in a world that has always treated women with volatile violence.

“The words we speak become the house we live in.” The physicality of the Persian poet Hafiz’s words strike me more than ever as we anticipate Trump’s presidency.

There’s a physicality to language that we often ignore, one that is diminished by empty phrases thrown around on the internet, especially after the election. In this environment of misinformation and mistrust, it’s easy to lose faith in language as a tool for building something as warm as a home.

In the wake of the presidential election, Claire Welch SC ’27 discusses the politics of language. Making references to the witches of 1970s Italy and a secret language in Hunan, Welch posits language as a tool towards liberation.

Art history’s physics problem: Charles Falco speaks at the Benton

In an age where many fear the automation of art, physicist Charles Falco reminds us that the intersection of technology and art is anything but new. On the afternoon of Nov. 14 at Pomona College’s Benton Museum of Art, Falco presented the Hockney-Falco thesis, regarded as having “shak[en] the foundations of art history.” According to the thesis, Renaissance masters like Lorenzo Lotto and Hans Holbein didn’t just rely on raw talent — they used optics.

“Once you’ve seen the optical projection, you can’t unsee it,” Falco told the audience.

An expert on condensed matter, Falco’s legacy stretches far beyond the Hockney-Falco thesis: His research has reshaped our understanding of optics, visual perception and their intersection with historical art practices.

The story began with a chance encounter. As Pomona physics and astronomy professor Dwight Whitaker notes, it was Falco’s expertise in motorcycle history that first led him to curate “The Art of the Motorcycle” show at the Guggenheim in 1998, eventually connecting him to Hockney.

In 2000, Falco read a New Yorker article by the renowned artist, who speculated that Renaissance painters might have used optical aids. While most art historians dismissed the idea, believing these artists’ mastery was due to skill alone, Falco saw an opportunity to apply scientific rigor to an art history question.

What followed was an unconventional collaboration between an

artist and a scientist that challenged centuries of conventional wisdom about art history.

“He wasn’t afraid to challenge some of David’s ideas and engaged him like another scientist,” Whitaker said. “Through this open and honest dialogue, they were able to fully form their remarkable theory.”

Together, Hockney and Falco discovered that artists were using sophisticated optical techniques nearly 200 years earlier than previously thought possible.

“We’re not saying optics is the only way to get perspective right,” Falco said. “Optics is the only way to get perspective wrong.” This paradoxical statement cuts

to the heart of his research: While skilled artists could achieve perfect perspective through technique alone, optical devices introduced distinctive distortions. When they used lenses or mirrors to project images onto their canvases, misaligned vanishing points were off by exactly three degrees or sections of carpets didn’t quite match up. These weren’t random mistakes, but rather the metaphorical “fingerprints” of optical tools, ones as unique and identifiable as a signature hidden in the geometry of the paintings themselves.

Falco demonstrated this idea through Lorenzo Lotto’s “Husband and Wife.” First, he established a

crucial reference point: The woman’s shoulders measured just 10 inches across in the painting, while a typical woman’s shoulders span about 18 inches.

“I know this because I have a wife and two daughters,” Falco chuckled, drawing laughs from the audience.

Using this scale discrepancy, Falco calculated the exact magnification of the optical projection Lotto likely used. Traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia, he photographed the painting in infrared and optical wavelengths. The analysis revealed something remarkable: The ornate carpet in the painting had been traced in three separate sections, and the artist moved the lens to keep each area in focus as he worked.

These discoveries suggested a profound connection between art and science in the Renaissance, challenging the common tendency to separate the two disciplines, Falco explained.

“It’s remarkable that the instruments that made the photorealistic paintings possible themselves left subtle, quantifiable, clues of their use in the images themselves, which enabled us to know nearly all the properties of the instruments they used,” Whitaker said.

Falco further illustrated this in the case of Holbein’s “The Ambassadors.” When the National Gallery in London restored the famous distorted skull at the bottom of the painting, they assumed Holbein had used an anamorphic projection technique — a technique that distorts an image so it can only be viewed correctly

from a specific angle. However, Falco’s analysis, based on high-resolution images from the restoration, suggested otherwise. The skull’s distortions bore the hallmarks of optical projection. He even informed the Gallery that their restoration assumption was flawed.

Falco moved effortlessly between discussing optical physics and sharing anecdotes about art.

“As someone interested in physics and art, I loved seeing how Dr. Falco used both to completely change how we view older paintings,” attendee Elsa Van Dyke PO ’28 said. “All the visuals he presented left me amazed.”

When asked how he balanced his physics career with this art-historical research, Falco smiled as he recounted nights spent poring over art books while watching TV.

“This was a hobby,” Falco said. “If I had done this earlier in my career, I probably would have gotten tenure earlier!”

Falco’s “hobby” has earned him accolades like the Ziegfield Lecture Award from the National Art Education Association and the Dwight Nicholson Medal from the American Physical Society.

Falco’s research doesn’t diminish the achievement of Renaissance masters. Rather, it reveals them as more sophisticated than previously imagined: They combined technical innovation with aesthetic genius.

As the afternoon sun slanted through the museum windows, Falco’s message was clear: The divide between art and science is more permeable than we think. Sometimes, all it takes is a new way of seeing.

CoUrTeSY: beNToN mUSeUm oF ArT

GABRIEL BRENNER

on Nov. 14 at the benton, Physicist Charles Falco spoke about the Hockney-Falco thesis, which asserts renaissance artists relied on optical tools to achieve their technical accuracy.

ALeXANDrA GrUNbAUm • THe STUDeNT LIFe

STeLLA robINSoN• THe STUDeNT LIFe

More than a body: Challenging the dehumanization of Black women in sports

“If something walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and fights like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” Piers Morgan wrote for the New York Post, blatantly dehumanizing Imane Khelif upon the leak of her medical records detailing her chromosomal makeup on Nov. 4, 2024. Khelif, an Algerian boxer who won a gold in the 66kg Women’s boxing event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has been embroiled in scandal and faced discrimination over her eligibility to compete in the women’s division of boxing competitions since 2023. While the New York Post is known for sensationalist journalism and conservative bias, a wide variety of sources have perpetuated the narrative against Khelif. Instead of public outrage at the leaking of sensitive medical information and the way she is being demonized, the media agreed with Morgan’s representation of Khelif and perpetuated a practice that has become all too frequent: the scrutiny of successful Black female athletes’ biology (think Serena Williams and Caster Semenya, among others). Public hyperfixation on the physical characteristics contributing to athletic success disproportionately affects Black women, explaining their success as an anomaly rather than a product of talent or hard work.

Khelif’s treatment throughout her career reflects the history of Black people being dehumanized to justify racism, like the widely documented Black-ape association. This demonstrates how race has long been weaponized to rationalize injustice. In media coverage, Black individuals have been depicted using animalistic imagery that reinforces harmful stereotypes. In a 2014 study, Black defendants were found to be more frequently depicted as ape-like than

PARKER DEVORE

Vaping could be the next vaccine, a miracle of modern science that saves four million lives each year — if only we would let it. I think more people should vape. I love a hot take, and this is one of my favorite stock ones, along with banning credit cards and speed limits. It never fails to get a rise out of people, but that’s not why I go for it. Like the other hot takes, I really do believe that it’s true, no matter how counterintuitive it might seem. But how could I say that? Am I really that hooked, or have the heavy metals seeped into my brain?

You’ve seen the image before. The pile of tropical colored doodads, dumped behind a headboard, hiding in a sock drawer, or maybe proudly displayed, lining a wall, covering a desk, an altar to hedonism. A double graveyard for e-waste and youth. We used to be a proper country.

Vaping isn’t pretty. In fact, it’s widely regarded as kind of lame. Most people I talk to about their vaping habit are bashful. They can quit whenever they want, they’ve been doing it since high school, they only do it at parties, it’s their friend’s, it’s their last one, etc.

Not many want to be associated with vapes nowadays, and that makes sense. They’re the physical embodiment of our psychological weaknesses — vice manifest. Geek Bar, Elf Bar, Flum, Vuse, Squid Bar. And that’s not mentioning the ones that look like baby bottles. What’s wrong with you people?

It’s easy to think they have always been thought of as lame. In

white defendants in media of and relating to criminal proceedings, which correlated with harsher sentencing and increased likelihood of state-sponsored violence. The historical pattern of dehumanization is evident in Khelif’s treatment, as media coverage today utilizes animalistic comparisons, highlighting how race and gender biases persist in undermining Black women’s achievements in sports. Khelif’s experience is broader than a matter of her eligibility to participate. The scrutiny she faces results from systematic devaluation of her humanity, in which media

and sports institutions collectively reduce her to physical attributes, rather than celebrating her achievements or even recognizing her as a legitimate contestant. While opponents of Khelif argue that they are advocating for the integrity of women’s sports, it is not simply an issue of sports policy at play — it is a form of racialized dehumanization that robs Khelif and other Black female athletes of their humanity and right to play.

The continuous scrutiny, invasive media coverage and obsession with physical characteristics of Black female athletes reinforces negative

stereotypes, and creates barriers to their participation and performance. When one fears confirming a negative stereotype about their own group, this feeling can cause them to perform poorly in the skill associated with the stereotype. This phenomenon, called “stereotype threat” doesn’t just affect performance; it also impacts self-esteem, identification with the stereotyped domain and long-term aspirations. People facing stereotype threat might distance themselves from fields where they feel marginalized, which can perpetuate underrepresentation in certain areas.

The case for vaping

our short lives, we have had top box seats to three devastating acts of the tragic arc of the vape.

Act One: Ten years ago, bearded dorks donning Raiders or Trail Blazers trucker hats and flannels with box mods blew phat clouds outside of axe-throwing places; the beginning of a doomed and disparaged budding love affair.

Act Three: Now, middle schoolers turn to their dagger: neon Geek bars displaying Mantuan poison on their little screens. Two points on the continuum of perpetual uber-lameness plot a line, Q.E.D… but it seems as though everyone forgot about Act Two. Vapes are lame now, through no fault of their own and in keeping with no permanent historical trend. Overzealous regulation and alarmism about vaping created the modern disposable vape climate, and the stuff before was just hipsters being gross. They probably still blow clouds — they’re hipsters! At the same time, when we examine the continuum a bit more, we find that between the vaping dark days, the rocky times of the hipster and the box mod, and the harsh, jutting, new age middle schooler vaping era, lay Act Two: Capulet’s Orchard, the halcyon valley of the Juul.

For a brief moment around 2018, Juul was synonymous with vaping as a whole. In a now seemingly deleted blog post, Juul claimed that their popularity stemmed from their disruption of a seemingly archaic industry. Disruption it certainly was: they seemed to be years ahead of its

competition, as evidenced by its market share. However, much of this success was quickly attributed to the most notorious part of the company’s history: Youth vaping. I remember it as well as you might. Seemingly overnight, not just vapes, but Juuls appeared around every corner. I was 13 when they got big, and although COVID-19 severed my ties to the school bathroom, Juul nevertheless left a strong impression. Vaping entered popular consciousness, becoming a fixture in mainstream culture. Celebrities vaped, you vaped, we all vaped. Crucially, it’s fair to claim that Juul, probably on purpose, created a generation addicted to vaping. The harder they come, the harder they fall. The first wave of, dare I say, justified alarm resulted in a barrage of litigation, eventual legislation and massive settlements. For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juul and its way to go.

Yet the nail in the company’s coffin was the EVALI (e-cigarette- or vaping-use-associated lung injury) media circus. All of a sudden, people were getting sick, and in some cases even dying, and this was “linked” to vaping, and vaping was synonymous with Juul. Media poisoners descend, whirlwind ensues ... classic.

NBC reported on the outbreak, talked to cops and cautioned masses of concerned parents and vapers about the danger and addictive nature of youth vaping. Another lost generation, our poor youth. Surprisingly, vape sales plummeted. Heroic journalists’

The critique of Khelif embodies the intersection of dehumanization and stereotype threat, two forces that uniquely impact Black women in sports. The focus on Khelif’s chromosomal makeup and physique parallels historic animalistic associations that diminish Black women, and label them as different to justify their marginalization. Stereotype threat has forced Khelif to take on the psychological burden of defending her femininity in an environment that is more interested in her physique and eligibility than her skill.

We must hold media and sports institutions accountable for their portrayals of Black female athletes, demanding that they shift from reductive narratives to ones that celebrate their achievements and acknowledge them as legitimate participants. As fans, advocates and fellow athletes, we can create a culture that honors inclusivity and pushes for representation that acknowledges the skill, resilience, and identity of all female athletes beyond their physical traits.

Ultimately, Imane Khelif’s story is a reminder that we must critically assess how sports culture treats Black women. The success of Black female athletes must be recognized rather than argued against. If we continue to accept the dehumanization and psychological burden that athletes like Khelif face, we will continue to perpetuate an exclusionary, biased and harmful system.

Khelif’s story serves as a rallying point for reconsidering how we treat our Black female athletes, reminding us that true sportsmanship honors humanity as much as skill.

Naomi Locala PO ’25 is a psychological science major from San Francisco, California. She hopes everyone has a restful break and thinks critically about the media’s portrayal of Black female athletes.

calls to action saved the day. It was another slam dunk for Fauci and the woke mind virus. With all eyes turned to vapes, Juul’s FDA fiasco followed: a flavor ban in 2020 and a marketing ban in 2022 capped off a litigious history. With the bad guy seemingly got, we should sound the victory bells. Right?

The thing is, it was never the Juul pods that caused “vape lung.” Even the original studies — cited by so many media outlets that focused mainly on the addictive nature of vapes — showed that more than 80 percent of people who got sick were using THC cartridges, not nicotine vapes, most of them originating from extremely non-FDA-approved sources. But the damage was done.

After flavored refillable vapes were banned, largely stemming from Juul’s controversy, many turned to the completely unregulated market of disposables. Products labeled as reputable brands, Puff Bar the most infamous, were up to 95 percent counterfeit.

This new littered, counterfeit, neon era of vapes beat competition on flavors but are almost certainly riskier than the previous generation of established, regulated, reusable brands — but this doesn’t matter, because vapes are uncool again anyway. We smoke cigarettes now.

Nowadays, the discourse — especially in Claremont — is sheer misinformed idiocracy. Buoyed by repeat fear-mongering news cycles about vaping, cigarettes are increasing in cultural cachet by the minute. I’m a cigfluencer —“Ooooooooh, let the light iiiiiiiin”— I only roll my own, with American Spirit tobacco … I totally quit vaping by smoking. I only smoke a few a day, and I used to hit my vape allllll the timmeeeeeeeee ... I feel so much bettterrrrrrrr. USB stick. Cigs just have natural vibesssss; they come from plantsssss. Vapes look stupid. It’s just a drunk ciggggg …. it doesn’t count. How did we get here, and when does the bad news end?

The fact is that vapes and cigarettes are substitutes. When one decreases in popularity, the other increases. This is a good thing, but only if we let the pendulum swing one way: towards vapes. Cigarettes, unfortunately, are really, really bad for you, but they are also really, really cool. Cigarettes: the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, youth, rebellion, cowboys, sex, drugs, rock and roll, the World Wars, race car liveries, Ke$ha, nostalgia, freedom, cowboys again, pirates, Kurt Cobain, Charlie Sheen and a swath of other hyper-cultural items. Vapes? Middle schoolers and our own weakness. Scholars report vaping is the “jacking off” of nicotine! Don’t ask for a link to the paper. Step back though. Cigarettes are linked to more than nine million deaths every year. Vapes, more specifically EVALI, have been linked to 68 deaths ever, all within a few months, and 80% of those EVALI cases linked to fake

THC cartridges. Not to say that this is conclusive, or that vapes are safe. They are not. Full stop. You shouldn’t feel good about vaping, but think about it this way: There is no proven link between vaping and cancer. Cigarettes enjoy no such accolade. So maybe it’s okay to feel a little better about it. Although it’s true that vaping is in some ways too new to know the magnitude of its risk, it’s beyond a shadow of a doubt clear that it is far, far safer than tobacco. Yet it seems like no one notices, let alone cares. Yes, vaping can make you sick, pump you full of chemicals and heavy metals, but all this, in one way or another, stems from the wild west climate of disposable vapes and fake carts. This won’t stop till we abandon the popular alarmist and prohibitionist ideas and policies that create the noxious vaping environment of today, and regulate it. Unregulated disposables, increased smoking and EVALI are all symptoms of this kind of thinking.

Broad generalizations about safety lead to broad regulation, broad regulation leads to wide loopholes, and these cycles of misinformation lead to you having no idea if vaping — or the particular vape you’re using — is safe. No, I don’t think that every 12-year-old in the TriState needs an Elf Bar, but it would be great if everyone who currently smokes cigarettes had an easy, safer alternative. However, thanks to the demonization of vapes, many think they don’t.

It’s clear that vapes are here to stay, and that’s good news: they have the potential to substitute tobacco. However, potential needs realization, and vapes need PR. Enter local hero, TSL writer … Tobacco has hundreds of years and trillions of dollars in advertising from Big Tobacco. Because of that, some nine million people are going to die this year because of smoking. For context, vaccines prevent one million deaths a year. Fighting tobacco is an uphill battle, but vaping is a strong contender, and has potential to mitigate the harm of nicotine addiction, and prevent millions of deaths every year.

Vaping will never be cooler than smoking, but it is safer. If vaping could shed its stigma and gain credibility, we can regulate them properly and use them without defaulting to shame. Smoking could be seen squarely as the worse option, not a debatable substitute.

We could develop better ways for smokers to transition, and better ways for those who vape to quit altogether, but this only happens if people choose to believe in it. We can stop smoking cigarettes by instead using FDA approved vapes, not seedy disposables, and maybe not feel as lame, juvenile, or embarrassed as our vaping predecessors about it. We certainly won’t smoke cigarettes at the same time. Why do you people always do that? Jesus.

Parker DeVore PZ ’27 is from Seattle, and wants you to know that he doesn’t even freaking vape, MOM!

NAOMI LOCALA

Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer who competed in the 2024 olympics, faced backlash in as a result of unfounded comments about her gender.

LinkedIn is not our end-all be-all

KABIR RAINA

+ Connect. + Connect. + Connect. If this looks familiar to you and you hate it, you’re not alone. For the blissfully unaware, + Connect is what you press to request to add someone on LinkedIn, the popular professional networking app, and I think that us college students need to be more intentional in how and why we use the platform.

As a freshman, we are constantly told by upperclassmen and even advisors that internships will be hard to come by at least until sophomore summer, so why do we create accounts now, or even before we reach university? I understand that it can be useful if you have your own business, but for the majority of us, a LinkedIn account doesn’t add any value to our lives.

It can be fun to pretend and act as if the clubs we join are actual jobs, but future employers won’t have the time to scroll through our posts and see what we thought of a networking event we attended.

But, I’m not innocent either. If you’re connected with me, you’ll have seen my post promoting my first article with TSL. Despite the likes and comments I eagerly checked my phone for, I wasn’t happy about it.

In high school, I always believed that LinkedIn was a far off thing, mocking some of my classmates that had chosen to make accounts as early as the end of 11th grade. Even when I arrived at Claremont McKenna College, I didn’t think I’d have to make a profile until at least sophomore spring, but conversations with my peers made me rethink my opinion. For a week straight, all I heard was “Did you see what X posted?” or “Can you comment on my post?”

Incessant discussion about LinkedIn was my breaking point. There is crushing peer pressure, a constant threat that I’d be disadvantaged for future employment by not having a LinkedIn that logged every goal and achievement. If that wasn’t enough, the number of connections I had mattered too.

If you thought having a certain ratio of Instagram followers to following makes you cooler, the coveted “500+ connections” title shining in the LinkedIn bio is, in the LinkedIn addict’s mind, just as important as being employed. While I have no doubt that professional clout is real, I don’t see how having that as a freshman is useful in any manner, apart from it being a flex.

While college students across the country — and maybe even the globe — might also follow this doctrine, I believe that the 5Cs exacerbate the issue. Being the top talent in the country is generally a good thing, but

it also means everyone wants to prove their worth and show that they are different, which leads to the aforementioned posting of club positions and event recaps. Instagram already has its fair share of students using the platform to “flex,” and now that we’re in college, so does LinkedIn.

While you may genuinely be proud of your new internship or job, many students see the optics of their opportunities as more important than the work itself — it’s all about how it looks on your profile. LinkedIn has become the new measure of self-worth.

Many might counter by saying it’s better to start earlier than later, so that the professional environment isn’t new to us when we start working. I understand this take, but I also think that it adds unnecessary pressure on students as they feel they have to constantly keep up with everyone else.

Moreover, having all your middle school experiences explained in excruciating detail isn’t the most helpful either, as employers can only scan for important information. The truth is, coming out of high school, very few of us have multiple relevant jobs or internships to choose from, and it’s easy to see through the fluffing that occurs. Putting your summer spent in the dishpit at a McDonalds on your LinkedIn will not will not be the difference maker in getting a Deloitte offer.

LinkedIn is a great platform for the professional workspace, and the fact that it is still relevant is testament to that. The key word however is “professional,” and to employers, we are all still children. I mean, come on, I haven’t even finished a semester of college yet. Juniors and seniors have locked in their majors and are well on their way to finishing the necessary electives, making them prime candidates. Freshmen and sophomores (to an extent) are still wayward on their decided major and may be less committed as a result. We make fun of people obsessed with social media, so why do we not do the same for those obsessed with LinkedIn? We’ve made it one and the same. College LinkedIn is where students “do it for the ‘gram” and internships are the new “functions.”

Don’t doomscroll LinkedIn. At least Instagram’s more fun.

Kabir Raina CM ’28 believes we should all chill out about getting internships and LinkedIn clout. He will probably promote this on his account though. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Democrats need to let their voters choose

In the wake of Donald Trump’s resounding victory, a heavy liberal fog has settled onto the campuses. Classes were canceled, mourning spaces convened, angry phone calls made to parents — the whole nine yards of grieving. As the dust settles, the Democratic base is already lashing out, trying to attach the blame to somebody, some group, some bias. It is irresponsible and incorrect to place the blame on the American public, the independents, or even Kamala Harris, rather than the party that has lost the faith of the American people by making decisions for them and alienating their voter base. The Democratic Party, not the voting populace, has failed the American people, shifting the identity of the party away from its base of working class voters.

2016 proved things about the American populace that we have forgotten: If there is belief in a narrative, anyone can be president. Remember that Barack Hussein Obama won the popular vote in the wake of 9/11 and the storm of islamophobia that followed it. He won because America chose him from a deep field, because he was charismatic, a generational speaker and he ran on a campaign of hope.

Obama wooed America. He was a cultural phenomena. His voice echoed through the country, promising a restructuring of the Democratic Party, which after the exhausting impeachment of the Bill Clin -

ton era and crushing loss of Al Gore’s presidential campaign, was in need of a makeover.

Obama struggled to deliver on these promises, outside of the steps he made toward Medicare for All. But aside from policy, he created a mythos and portrayed a confidence that made voting for him feel good. This feeling was greatest felt in Black populations which rallied around Obama at unprecedented rates of 95 percent. His victory, on a symbolic level, changed for many what it felt like to be American. NPR spoke to Black voters who espoused this sentiment.

“America is beautiful,” Michael Smith, a Black voter from York, Pennsylvania said with a smile.

“I think they’re watching us, as, how are we going to handle it?” he said. “You know, we have to stand up and be counted, and represent, in a sense, to show America that it wasn’t a mistake.”

For many, it was a privilege to vote for Obama, and nine million more people voted in 2008 than 2004.

Hillary Clinton tried to channel the energy of what it felt like to vote for the first Black president and break the glass ceiling. She was next in line, and selected to run the campaign that would create another first for the country, take the Obama era fervor for breaking down barriers and build on it.

Bernie Sanders promised liberal ideas that would shift the expectations of the party.

Obama planted the seeds of hope through democratic populism, and Sanders effectively

Stop using ChatGPT

This semester, the syllabi for every single one of my classes mention generative artificial intelligence and sites such as ChatGPT or Copilot. It makes sense. Professors must craft some sort of policy on AI, whether in favor or opposed. According to a survey from the Digital Education Council, 86 percent of students use generative AI for their studies. But for the sake of our environment, we cannot afford to use AI in its current state.

The energy consumption associated with ChatGPT is colossal. For example, the energy consumption for training one large Language model such as ChatGPT results in a carbon footprint of 300,000 kg of CO2 emissions, comparable to 125 round-trip flights between Beijing and New York.

Still, the larger environmental problem associated with AI is the depletion of an essential natural resource: freshwater. The latest United Nations Environmental Report found that nearly two-thirds of the world’s population experiences water scarcity for at least one month a year; this number is expected to grow. Simultaneously, the high-energy data centers that power AI sites use enormous amounts of water for cooling processes. AI’s projected water usage is on track to hit 6.6 billion meters cubed by 2027, a concerning figure. For comparison, that

is the same amount of water used by Cuba, a country of 11 million people, each year. Due to both carbon emissions and water consumption, the role of generative AI has been overwhelmingly negative for our environment. Companies such as OpenAI and Microsoft have been vague and evasive when pressed on efforts to improve AI’s sustainability. Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, has proudly reported that “By 2030 we will be water positive, meaning we will replenish more water than we use.” However, Microsoft has failed to provide extensive details about how this “water-positive” plan would look and how it will work specifically to mitigate the horrific consequences of generative AI. Their 2023 environmental report found that from 2021 to 2022, Microsoft’s water consumption increased by 34 percent, following the introduction of generative AI into the company. Companies, especially companies that turn a massive profit from AI (Microsoft gains roughly $10 billion in profit annually from AI), should not be trusted to correct their behaviors for the sake of the well-being of both our planet and the people living in it. It is our responsibility as consumers to demand better. Those who have a vested interest in the

planet and the climate’s continued health have a moral imperative to oppose generative AI, at least in its current unsustainable form. We can, and must, advocate for increased sustainability practices when it comes to AI and increased transparency regarding energy sources as well as overall resource consumption.

There are options to make AI a more sustainable practice. Shifting AI operations to energy-efficient data centers that are more transparent about energy usage and utilize green energy sources is one such option. We should also advocate for prioritizing targeted, field-specific AI models rather than expansive, generalist AI platforms such as ChatGPT, which would increase overall efficiency and minimize environmental impact.

In the meantime though, we must not use AI. The large-scale usage of generative AI is what makes it so perilous for the environment. An effective method of opposition is a large-scale boycott of sites such as ChatGPT and Gemini.

This is not to say that it is the individual’s responsibility to end climate change (just 100 companies are responsible for 71 percent of emissions related to fossil fuel production) but it is to say that consumers have the power to fight anthropogenic climate change and we must utilize that power. ChatGPT is unique in that its en-

marketed himself as the continuation of that message. The nation was crying for a step forward yet the Democratic Party didn’t listen, instead starting the project that facilitated Trump’s rise to power: alienation.

The party worked to push Sanders to resign, WikiLeaks released emails from the Democratic National Committee that displayed the party’s interior distaste with Sanders, and suggested derision by the Committee. While outwardly crafting an air of neutrality, the Democrats’ impulse to state-build and shift their base created a party with a shattered identity.

Chuck Schumer, Democratic speaker of the House and a powerful voice of the party saw the Republican alignment with a frustrated rural base and was happy to say goodbye to the historic Democratic base, aligning with professionals in suburbs over the working class vote. With the party in a fragile space, he made a gamble.

“For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia,” Schumer said at a forum sponsored by the Washington Post in June of 2016, “and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.”

The Democratic Party has not won Ohio on a national scale since this statement, and Kamala lost key states like Pennsylvania as city turnout faltered and state turnout grew. For the party to return to success on a national stage, it needs to tie its identity together, find its base and execute policies that align with the voice of its voters.

vironmental destruction is driven by consumers. ChatGPT is primarily a consumer product. The bulk of usage comes directly from individuals, which makes it uniquely vulnerable to consumer boycotts. Since its carbon and freshwater consumption stems largely from single individuals, they have the power to enact change through a targeted boycott of generative AI.

As the AP reports, a ChatGPT session involving 5-50 prompts consumes as much 500 milliliters, equivalent to a bottle of water. Stu-

dents have completed school work before and can continue to without using generative AI. The level of convenience associated with generative AI simply is not worth it. Signing out of ChatGPT is a small but effective step one can take to reduce one’s carbon footprint and put financial pressure on

STELLA robINSoN • THE STUDENT LIFE

ALEX BENACH

ADAM AKINS

SHIXIA o YU • THE STUDENT LIFE

Editor’s Note: 2024 reflection

TANIA AZHANG & JUNE HSU

In a year defined by political upheaval and campus unrest, we, the Editorial Board of TSL, have had the distinct privilege of serving the Claremont Colleges in witnessing, documenting and contributing to the narrative of the events of 2024 on our campuses. We understand that our role comes with the responsibility to engage with the immediate realities of our colleges, while recognizing that they are only a part of a broader global context. Amid the turbulence of this unprecedented year, we have worked to provide accurate and thorough news coverage while

documenting a reliable record of the events shaping our campuses. As our time on the Editorial Board comes to a close, we are reflecting on how this year has both reaffirmed our commitment to our mission and highlighted its vital importance — strengthening our resolve to uphold journalistic integrity and represent our community as best we can. While we have faced scrutiny over our reporting and the perspectives we’ve covered, we stand firmly behind each of our choices. This includes amplifying diverse voices — even those whose views may be controversial or uncomfortable for some — using unmodified photographs without blurring faces and mak-

ing case-by-case decisions about the anonymity and use of certain sources based on our assessment of the individual or group, their situation and the purpose of their statement. Additionally, we have been criticized for “disproportionately” highlighting the louder voice, as certain sides of an issue are more outspoken than others. However, we believe the decisions we’ve made both meet the high standards we hold ourselves to and also contribute to a lasting record of our campus climate for future generations. Through all of this, our commitment to our mission has only deepened. While the individuals who make up our staff and Editorial Board change each semes-

ter, our core purpose remains constant: to provide accurate, objective and comprehensive news coverage. Our dedication to this mission ensures that we remain focused on the principles that define us, no matter who is behind the masthead. Friday, Nov. 22, will be our last print issue of the semester. However, we are devoted to publishing any breaking news online in the weeks to come, hoping to continue serving the Claremont Colleges in any way they may need. Looking ahead, we remain committed to evolving with the needs of our community, ensuring that our work will always be a relevant, reliable source of news and dialogue.

After a year of campus unrest, TSL’s Editorial Board reflects on the events of 2024 at the Claremont Colleges.

Sagehens edge out Banana Slugs to come out victorious in first round of NCAA tournament

The game is tied at 0-0. Fans are packed behind the barricades. “Let’s go, Hens!” and vuvuzelas fill the silence. After a five-for-five penalty kick showing, the Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) women’s soccer team earned their spot to the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.

On Nov. 16, the Sagehens hosted the first round of the tournament, facing UC Santa Cruz in the morning followed by a matchup between Trinity University and Cal Lutheran University, with the Tigers prevailing

1-0. The next day, Nov. 17, the Sagehens faced off against Trinity in the second round, ultimately falling to the Tigers in PKs after coming back from a 1-0 deficit.

Throughout full-time and extra-time play, the Hens and Banana Slugs found themselves in a deadlock. Despite the even scoreline, the Hens maintained momentum for much of the game, outshooting the Slugs 25 to 8.

With each team looking elimination in the eyes, some players, like Sagehen senior Ella Endo PO ’25, said they found motivation in the

high stakes.

“One of our targets for this game was the phrase ‘All in,’” Endo said. “As it comes down to the playoffs, we put everything out on the field, we leave nothing.”

Maxine Davey PO ’25, another senior captain, also spoke on the weight of the game, noting it as a pivotal moment in her soccer career.

“For me, it’s not taking anything for granted,” Davey said. “We’ve been playing competitive soccer for, you know, 16 to 17 years of our lives, and as seniors, this is our last opportunity to play the game that we love with the teammates we love.”

The grit and gratitude expressed by Endo and Davey were evident in the Hens’ performance throughout the game. While the Sagehens held comfortable control of possession for most of the game, the Slugs fought back, pushing Sagehen goalkeeper Patricia DePalma PO ’26 to protect against set pieces. In the 31st minute, DePalma made a diving save from a header and an acrobatic jump to save a free kick shot in the second half.

As the game neared the end of regular-time play, the Hens increasingly applied pressure to threaten Santa Cruz’s defense. Isla Burch PZ ’25 received a pass in front of the goal from Hannah Hong PO ’26,

but was stopped by a sliding Slug tackle on the goal line.

While the crowd was left wondering which team would prevail, Vivian Rojas Collins PO ’27 spoke on how confidence in her team helped drive play.

“For the entire 110 minutes, I had full belief that we were gonna win,” Rojas Collins said. “So it wasn’t very hard to keep going.”

While Miranda Armstrong, Sagehens’ assistant coach, acknowledged the “nerve-wracking” nature of the game, she said she felt the team was “100 percent prepared for that.”

The team was fully willing to keep the pressure going. Even during the 10-minute extra-time halves, they did what they did best — scanning the field for openings, whether down the line or via runs into the middle.

The Sagehens proved true to Armstrong’s statement, finding a dominant 9-2 shot count over the Slugs in the 20-minute extra time, but a tough Slugs showing pushed the game to penalty kicks.

With penalty kicks holding an intense and pressurized environment, Armstrong shared insight into the Sagehens’ preparation right before.

“During the game, it’s more

pump up, but during PKs, it’s more like composure,” Armstrong said. “So much of it is, take your deep breath, visualize finishing that kick, and just take care of it as we practiced.”

The Hens did just that. Penalty goals from Davey, Endo, Taylor Marshall PZ ’26, Spencer Deutz PZ ’25 and Rojas Collins and a missed Slug shot brought P-P a 5-4 victory.

The Sagehens were unable to recreate this magic the following day when they fell to Trinity 3-2 in penalties, following a 1-1 game with Endo scoring a comeback Sagehen goal, despite outshooting their opponent 21-5.

Even with the loss, P-P is walking away with another successful season, finishing with a 16-3-2 total record, and an outstanding 10-1-1 SCIAC record that crowned them SCIAC regular season champions. The Sagehens’ success was visible not only in their record but also in mentality with Endo noting how the team adopted “believe” as a season motto.

“When we were writing it down and talking about it, it was all about reflecting on everything we’ve done up until this point, all the hard work we’ve put in at practice,” Endo said. “Even further beyond that, like as young kids, dreaming to be playing collegiate soccer, thinking about all that hard work.”

The art of the comeback: How Bayer Leverkusen turned magic into routine

If you ask a modern football fan to name the most impressive comeback they’ve witnessed, they might point to the 2019 Champions League semi-finals. Their parents might reference the 2005 Liverpool vs. AC Milan final. These are moments of greatness in football history, miracles perhaps. But does the last-minute comeback remain a miracle if it happens every game?

For the sheer quantity of matches rescued from the jaws of defeat, one could accuse Xabi Alonso, manager of Bayer Leverkusen, of witchcraft.

The team’s 2023-24 season brought a new kind of comeback magic, stunning their opponents at the death with 17 goals scored past the 90th minute and 34 goals past the 80th, all to protect a 51-game unbeaten streak. Memes erupted across the internet as people could not believe just how many times Alonso’s side pulled off the injury-time feat.

It was becoming inevitable — no lead was safe. In the Europa League quarterfinal versus Qarabag, for example, Leverkusen striker Patrick Schick scored two goals in stoppage time (90+3’ and 90+7’), with his first leveling the game and his second sending his team to the next round.

When Alonso took the managing reins in October 2022, Leverkusen was a struggling team in the Bundesliga sitting at No. 17 in the table. The team inherited the nickname “Neverkusen” due to its longstanding title drought and its tendency to “bottle”

trophies in the final stages of seasons. For example, in the 2001-02 season, Leverkusen finished with zero trophies out of a possible three — two back-to-back losses in the Bundesliga saw them slip to second which allowed Borussia Dortmund to win the title by one point. In the subsequent weeks, they would go on to lose the DFB Pokal and Champions League finals. However, Alonso’s debut season pulled the team from a relegation risk to a No. 6 Bundesliga finish, securing a spot in the Europa League competition. In his second season, the “Neverkusen” label was struck out and replaced with “Leverkusen Never Losin” as they cultivated an identity as comeback artists, playing until the final whistle as if they had complete control over their fate. And, with each comeback win, they were able to bolster confidence that they could repeat the feat. Through their utter quantity of comebacks, they redefined lategame resilience and, quite possibly, the role of psychology in football. This team lives out what psychologists call the “expectancy effect,” where the expectation of a positive outcome influences behavior to bring that outcome to life, a sort of scientific process of manifestation. Whenever Leverkusen falls behind, they don’t panic, they simply expect to pull off a comeback. And as the game clock ticks on, this tension only builds and the belief grows, creating the sense that their last-minute goals are in the script.

This kind of expectation is infectious, spreading the impact of this effect to their opponents. Just as Leverkusen’s players expect to turn games around, their opponents start to fear that they will. It’s a dance of confidence and caution, one that often leans in Leverkusen’s favor as opponents become worried about conceding and making defensive mishaps. And as we all know in sports, fear quickly turns to panic which turns into mistakes. And mistakes within a team are contagious.

This expectancy effect has transformed Leverkusen’s comebacks from flukes to habits. Each time they stage a dramatic turnaround, it reinforces their belief in this script. Momentum itself takes on new meaning, evolving from the rhythm of play within a game to a broader psychological force. As fans, we tend to think of momentum in terms of game phases: a great goal that incites energy, a perfectly timed tackle preventing a counter-attack, a defensive lapse triggering panic. But with Leverkusen, momentum becomes something layered across games and a whole season — a reputation for resilience that impacts every match.

Leverkusen’s relentlessness is part of a broader trend in modern football. There’s an old theory that a 2-0 lead is the “most dangerous” one, in that teams holding a 2-0 lead concede far more often than teams holding a one-goal lead. Sky Sports proved that historically this

does not hold: since 1992, around 90 percent of teams with a 2-0 lead go on to win, while just 2.6 percent lose the game. However, the statistics in the 2024-25 Premier League season so far show a different trend: the percentage of 2-0 leads overturned has reached a record high at 17.5 percent, up from just 8 percent two years ago. Perhaps this suggests that modern teams are more willing and capable of fighting back. Some argue that recent enforcements regarding time-wasting keep players moving, wearing down defenses late. Others credit improved conditioning, which lets players push beyond 90 minutes, as Leverkusen has done repeatedly.

But realistically, the fitness of the players cannot be that much different than two years ago. I think that Leverkusen’s remarkable season has sent waves through European football. Ignoring statistics, psychologically, when a team like Leverkusen is on the pitch, the fear of collapse weighs heavily on its opponents, impacting their play. While this is not quantifiable, I think other teams are starting to notice the psychological dominance the expectancy effect can have. As this expectation of Leverkusen’s success grows, it becomes a weapon, turning miracle comebacks into the everyday. In a game where comebacks are often seen as miracles, Leverkusen found the formula for such magic.

Athenas fall to La Verne in SCIAC Championship; Carranza ties CMS digs record

On Saturday, Nov. 16, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) faced a tough loss in the SCIAC final to La Verne University, but celebrated senior libero Dede Carranza CM ’25 as she reached 2121 career digs, tying the CMS all-time record. Their win automatically sent La Verne to the NCAA Division III Tournament while CMS received an at-large bid on Nov. 18 to play for the national title.

CMS entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in the SCIAC, having only lost to La Verne and Pomona-Pitzer (P-P), helping them finish with a conference record of 14–2. The La Verne Leopards closely tailed the Athenas, ranked No. 2 with a 13–3 record which included a loss to CMS on Friday, Nov. 1. According to Mia Urosevic CM ’28, the Athenas entered the at-home faceoff with high energy.

“We spent all week preparing for the match,” Urosevic said. “And when it finally came, we were all just very excited, and so thankful to be able to play on our home court.”

The match was close from the first set, as La Verne scraped together a 25-23 win despite the Athenas leading the match in kills 19-15. The Athenas came out strong in the second set, leading the Leopards 18–12. However, an eight-point run by La Verne, featuring three kills

and two blocks, put the Leopards in front. A kill by Shae Delany CM ’27 temporarily halted their opponents’ momentum, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Leopards from another set win, at 25–20 this time

around.

Even while down, the Athenas remained positive and high energy, according to Brenna Bell CM ’25. “The energy was never super

low,” Bell said. “We knew it was all in the details. Positivity was maintained by the bench really well. I felt very supported every time I subbed out.”

After La Verne went ahead 10–3

early in the third set, the Athenas channeled this energy, fighting their way back into the game. Help from Delany, Bell and Brooke McKee CM ’26 brought the Athenas within three points of the Leopards at 16–19.

The Athenas fought to keep the Leopards from a win, with blocks from Georgia McGovern CM ’24 and digs from Ashley Murashige SC ’25 and Carranza, but team efforts and multiple kills from La Verne junior Mya Ray — who was named tournament MVP — eventually helped the Leopards prevail.

“[The Leopards] were playing really good defense,” Hayden Lin CM ’28 said. “[They] were able to convert those digs into kills efficiently.” Though they did not achieve the outcome they had hoped for, the Athenas had some statistical wins in the match. McKee tied Ray for match-high honors with 17 kills, and Carranza got her name in the CMS record book. Notching 26 digs against La Verne, Carranza matched Megan Coleman CMC ’14 at 2121 digs to top the CMS rankings. On Monday, CMS received an at-large bid for the NCAA DIII Tournament and played Transylvania University on Thursday, beating them out in a five-set victory. As the Athenas seek a shot at redemption after falling in the semifinals of last year’s tournament, they look to face Emory College in the second round on Friday.

JUN KWON

SYDNEY KROONEN

GEORGIA MCGOVERN

CoUrTeSY: bAYer LeverKUSeN Bayer Leverkusen poses for a pre-season photo on September 18th, 2023. They would go on to win the German Bundesliga for the first time in club history during the 2023-2024 season.

FOOTBALL: Sagehens outlast Panthers in comeback victory

Continued from page 1

After surrendering possession at the 42-yard line, P-P looked for a stop but was met by an efficient quick game from Chapman, who marched the ball down the field as the first quarter came to a close.

The Panthers — led by former four-star recruit Joey Yellen, who previously played at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Arizona State University — scored just a few seconds into the second quarter to make it 14-0 as P-P continued to look for an answer on defense.

The next drive didn’t prove any better for the Sagehens — a punt return left the defense in a difficult situation, and a long pass gave Chapman another opportunity, which they took, transforming the score into a daunting 21-0.

The Sagehens’ first breath of life came on a fumble forced by Eamon Glascott PO ’25, giving the offense an opportunity to put points on the board after a relatively quiet first half.

The team’s first score came on a long pass from Russo to Quinten Wimmer PZ ’24, who was able to secure a touchdown through a tight Chapman defensive back.

However, Chapman immediately

answered with a drive of their own, scoring another touchdown as the clock expired in the second quarter.

Facing a score of 28-7 heading into halftime, Russo shed some light on the Sagehens’ mentality at this pivotal moment.

“We’ve been down by a lot of points a lot of times, and we’ve come back and won those games because no one on this team gives up,” Russo said.

The Sagehens stepped back onto the field with vengeance, immediately putting together a touchdown from wide receiver Jackson Walker PO ’28. The score made the game 28-13 after a missed extra point, but the Sagehens were undeterred.

The Hens’ defensive line also came back rejuvenated, with linemen Max Eastman PO ’27 and Omaru Konneh PO ’25 combining for a massive tackle, building the momentum even more.

Russo and the offense took advantage of this momentum, moving the ball down the field and capping off the drive with a 22-yard touchdown run from Russo to put the Sagehens within one possession of Chapman.

Konneh showed up again on the next defensive stand, stuffing an early run and combining for a

sack with Alden Kling PO ’27. The Sagehens’ defensive transformation allowed the offense to tack on a field goal from Jack Walker PO ’26.

Konneh, who fought through a first-half injury, reflected on the team’s defensive transformation.

“I never believe it’s over until that clock is zero,” Konneh said. “I feel like everybody played their hearts out. We knew the job we had to get done, and we executed. It’s that simple.”

After another strong defensive stand highlighted by a sack from defensive lineman Ethan Norris PO ’25, the Hens opened possession in the fourth quarter with 16 unanswered points and an opportunity to take the lead for the first time in the game.

A penalty call paired with a couple of incomplete passes forced the P-P defense back, yet, amidst the intense pressure, the Sagehens’ defense didn’t miss a beat. They forced another punt following strong run defense from linebackers Thomas McConnell PO ’25 and George Cutting PO ’25.

The offense delivered, with Russo eventually sealing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Sander Wimmer PZ ’24. Although the subsequent two-point conversion was unsuc-

cessful, the stadium buzzed as the Sagehens took their first lead of the game 29-28.

Hens’ head coach John Walsh spoke about the team’s halftime adjustments and comeback.

“I thought Chapman did an unbelievable job executing, you know, in all three phases,” Walsh said. “We got punched in the mouth a little bit. And then, you know, halftime, it was time for us to respond.”

With the game entering the home stretch, the Chapman offense reclaimed some rhythm, taking back the lead 34-29 with over three minutes remaining.

But the Sagehens didn’t blink, stringing together a three-minute, 75-yard drive. Running back Mitchell Rodenbaugh PZ ’28 added a couple of receptions to get the offense moving toward the end zone.

Russo was then able to march the offense down to the Chapman 18yard line, where he was again able to find Quinten Wimmer amidst the defense for the go-ahead score.

Russo’s connection with the Wimmers was a problem all day for Chapman, with Russo finding Sander Wimmer for the two-point conversion to put P-P up 37-34 with just 21 seconds remaining.

“I was just happy to get an

opportunity,” Sander Wimmer said. “I’m just glad that Grady had confidence in me, the coaches had confidence in me.”

The Wimmers combined for a staggering final stat line, tallying 18 receptions for 250 yards and touchdowns. The two brothers reflected on their time with the Sagehens and their mentality going into the game.

“We’ve played every snap of football together on the same field,” Quinten Wimmer said. “We knew this could be our final game as fifthyear seniors, and we wanted to go out together.” Chapman did manage to get their offense moving in a last-ditch attempt to spoil the Sagehens’ comeback, making their way down the field on two deep passes. The stands were nothing short of raucous as Chapman lined up to attempt a game-tying 51yard field goal — there was a moment of silence as the kick sailed through the air, but as the kick hooked right off the goalpost and time expired, P-P rushed the field to celebrate.

The dramatic win crowned the Sagehens SCIAC Champions for the second time in program history. Earning an automatic bid into the NCAA DIII tournament, the Hens will face Whitworth University on Saturday, Nov. 23 in Spokane, WA.

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Grady Russo throws for 397 yards with four passing touchdowns, rushes for 64 with