Vol. CXXXIII No. 10

VOL. CXXXIII NO. 10

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2021

CLAREMONT, CA

As KKR Kills protests continue, demonstrators denounce CMC’s response

Pomona-Pitzer men’s crosscountry wins second straight national title JASPER DAVIDOFF The Pomona-Pitzer men’s cross-country team won its second straight national championship Nov. 20, defending a title it earned for the first time in 2019.

Running at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky, the Sagehens finished with 80 points, 32 points ahead of second-place MIT. Colin Kirkpatrick PO ’24 was a surprise frontrunner for the Hens, leading the team with a tenth place 8K finish of 24:01.8. Following closely were Derek Fearon PO ’24 in 12th and Lucas Florsheim PO ’24 in 14th. Ethan Widlansky PO ’22, Dante Paszkeicz PO ’22 and Paul McKinley PO ’22 rounded out the Hens’ presence in the race’s top 40.

“The guys went out and executed the game plan to perfection,” interim head coach Kyle Flores said in a Pomona web story. “We knew that if we went out and ran our race, that the result we wanted would come. Couldn’t be prouder of these boys and all of the hard work they’ve put in over the years to get to this point.”

The win marks the second-ever NCAA title for P-P men’s teams.

Henry Pick HM ’23 took the third place individual time at 23:40. 4 , l e a d i n g t he C l a r emont-Mudd-Scripps men to a sixth place finish with 225 points.

Elsewhere at the Division III

See XC on page 9

JENNA MCMURTRY When 5C student-activists arrived at Claremont McKenna College to protest two of its trustees’ investments in controversial pipeline developments, they weren’t the first ones there.

Even before the protest began at the Cube midday on Nov. 19, members of CMC’s administration and security were already waiting — including an outside contracted videographer.

According to KKR Kills activist Corey LoDuca SC ’24, “As we were arriving, there were already CMC admin members, the videographer and campus

Untold Stories Art Exhibition at the Hive highlights APIDA voices SIMONE BOGEDAL Featuring over 40 pieces, the Asia n Amer ica n Mentor Pro gram’s (AAMP) Untold Stories Art Exhibition debuted on Nov. 20. Held at the Hive on Pomona College’s campus, the event ran from 1 to 4 p.m. and showcased around 40 5C artists, with significant representation from all four graduation years. Ranging from multimedia cloth work to photography to written (and performed) poetry, the exhibition boasted an impressive breadth of art.

When first entering the exhib-

it, visitors see a blue stitched cloth piece on the left wall, created by Caroline Kim PO ’23. Roug h ly 112 st ude nt s quietly observed the exhibit, which was neatly organized into aisles showcasing the art pieces.

By prov idi ng a 5C-w ide platform, the Untold Stories Art Exhibition shone an inter-college spotlight on the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) artists, organizer Ming Lam PO ’24 said.

See AAMP on page 4

EMMA JENSEN • THE STUDENT LIFE

Woven-cloth pieces and spoken poetry were among some of the APIDA art showcased at the Untold Stories Art Exhibition.

security here waiting for us.”

KKR Kills has been mobilizing for Indigenous land rights since the semester began, with Friday’s protest the fourth demonstration this year. The group aims to bring awareness to the large stakes two CMC trustees, George Roberts CM ’66 and Henry Kravis CM ’67, have in natural gas pipelines that they claim infringe on Indigenous lands.

CMC alumni and cousins Roberts and Kravis founded Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, an investment group whose recent acquisitions have invested in pipelines that skirt Yaqui and

ANNA CHOI • THE STUDENT LIFE

Top: A videographer has been present at every KKR Kills protest this semester.

Bottom: CMC staff confront demonstrators at a Nov. 19 protest outside the Cube.

See KKR on page 3

That’s a red flag, say Pomona Advocates Weeklong campaign shines a light on healthy relationships JENNA MCMURTRY Have you walked by the grassy lawns of Pomona College’s Smith Campus Center or the walkways along Marston Quad this week and noticed bright red flags jutting out of the grass?

The Campus Advocates at Pomona have some answers.

As a part of their recent ca mpa ig n to h ig h l ig ht t he characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships, students from Campus Advocates hosted a Red Flag event at Walker Hall Thursday evening.

In collaboration with Peer Educators, Women’s Union, EmPOWER Center a nd t he Pomona Events Committee, the event screened an episode of “Love Taps” to help students identify red flags in abusive relationships and learn how to intervene with the resources provided on campus.

Madeline Asch PO ’23 has been an advocate since her sophomore year and shared what she hopes the community takes away from the campaign.

“We would love for people to end this week with more

awareness about the existence of abusive relationships, including what happens on our college campus,” Asch said via email.

Asch said the campaign has been positively received by the Pomona community this week.

“We’ve had mult iple i ndividuals reach out to us to express gratitude that we’re spreading awareness about unhealthy relationships and have definitely gotten people talking in general,” she added.

An advocate since her first year, Mandisa Keswa PO ’22 said she hopes attendees leave t he event w it h new or enhanced knowledge about how they should react when faced with unhealthy relationships or sit uat ion s w it h pa r t ner violence.

There’s a heightened importance of making sure students are aware of how to confront unhealthy relationships due to the residential living system at the Claremont Colleges, Keswa added in an email.

“Living in such close quarters, we hope to foster accountability to strengthen campus

See RED on page 3

7Cs push COVID-19 booster shots

ANNA CHOI • THE STUDENT LIFE

7C students are now eligible to receive COVID-19 booster shots.

AVA FRANCIS-HALL ​​Students at the 7Cs are now eligible to receive COVID-19 booster shots under California health guidelines. With growi ng globa l concer n over t he new Omicron variant, the 7Cs have recommended st udents get boosted as soon as possible.

The arrival of booster shots has been anticipated since the i n it ia l rol lout of COV I D -19 vaccines last spring. On Nov.

See BOOSTER on page 3

SAMSON ZHANG • THE STUDENT LIFE

ARTS & CULTURE With responsibilities including researching, working on personal projects, assisting students, and advertising resources, the Honnold/ Mudd librarians’ schedules are booked. Read more on page 6.

The student newspaper of the Claremont Colleges since 1889

OPINIONS

SPORTS

CMC needs to stop neglecting and dismissing international students’ needs, and work towards better addressing them, argues guest columnist Bertha Tobias CM ‘24. Read more on page 8.

After crossing the finish line first at the West Regional Championships, Stevie Steinberg HM ‘22 earned West Region Athlete of the Year honors and reflected on a standout running career. Read more on page 9.

INDEX: News 1 | Arts & Culture 4 | Opinions 7 | Sports 9

News

PAGE 2

DECEMBER 3, 2021

Senior Week to remain, but it’s still in flux for future years LUCIA STEIN 5C administrators have been looking at doing away with Senior Week, the abridged end of spring semester for graduating students, but the tradition will still be in place for this academic year.

In past years on campus, seniors have been allowed to take their final exams a week before graduation, so as to have their grades finalized in time to receive their diplomas at commencement ceremonies. Spring exam week for the rest of the colleges, then, becomes “Senior Week” for each year’s graduating class.

Seniors usually use this week to spend time together as a class, in a culmination of their time together.

“For Mudders there’s typically some sort of arranged trip,” Alexandra Loumidis HM ’22 said. “It’s a big time and space for the senior class to kind of regroup and bond together.”

Earlier this semester, the consortium’s Academic Deans Committee (ADC) discussed potentially rolling back the altered calendar.

“The ADC approached the 5C chairs of faculty and said that they were considering aligning senior finals with all other finals and mailing diplomas after the commencement ceremony,” Pitzer College Chair of Faculty Brent Armendinger said via email. “They wanted to know what we thought.”

But as of early November, the proposal isn’t going forward for 2022.

After the 5C faculty chairs initially considered the idea, “we discussed it, brought it to our individual Faculty Executive Committees (or equivalent) for input, and then sent our feedback to the ADC,” Armendinger said.

The Pitzer Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) saw merit in the proposal, Armendinger said, because it would alleviate the strain that holding seniors’ finals early puts on both faculty and the registrar’s office, in addition to allowing for better learning outcomes for seniors themselves. “​​Under the current system, faculty have to grade all senior final papers, projects, and exams in … a day and a half (or less),” Armendinger said. “Not only is this workload excessive and unsustainable, we are concerned that the quality of grading and feedback suffers as well.”

Seniors have to continue to learn course information and study for and complete their finals all in this compressed time period.

SELENA LOPEZ • THE STUDENT LIFE

The idea of ending the semester a week early for seniors was brought up as an item for discussion at a Pitzer Student Senate meeting in late October, according to Senate President Kaila Teague PZ ’22.

“We understand that Senior Week places extra strain on faculty and are sympathetic to that,” Teague said.

But in discussions of the proposal, she said, students expressed how, after two years without in-person commencement ceremonies, having a graduation with the vital element of diplomas feels important to the culmination of their college experiences.

Additionally, Teague said, it “would be incredibly unfortunate to not receive diplomas at commencement for students that are from first-generation, BIPOC, low-income, formerly incarcerated, international, etc. backgrounds that may have communities viewing the commencement ceremony as a celebration that concludes their undergraduate experience.”

The diploma, she said, rep-

resents that for quite a few students. This was a prominent viewpoint raised during Senate discussions of the issue.

In addition to student concerns about Senior Week’s possible cancellation, “​​faculty members of the FEC also noted the impact of the pandemic on students and the fact that there are few traditions at Pitzer, recognizing that Senior Week is important to many,” Armendinger said.

The faculty chairs were in favor of holding finals for seniors at the same time as those for other students, and sent the ADC a letter to that effect, with the caveat that they “recommended that it not be implemented until next academic year, so that students this year could have senior week.”

Seniors are relieved that they’ll still get to experience the tradition.

“Not only is [Senior Week] something that you see the years before you do,” Loumidis said, “but … to have the space to also almost “wrap up” your personal relationships and your friendships and say goodbye to everybody ...

that feels important.”

Loumidis hadn’t heard any talk about this discussion over Senior Week and said she would have liked for the conversation to be better communicated to the wider student body.

For Nandini Mittal CM ’22, Senior Week wasn’t something she was especially familiar with.

That said, “creating a more cohesive class culture has always been a focus” for her grade at CMC, especially this year after such a disjointed and distanced last year and a half, Mittal said. “So I would feel really bad, especially if that was something that didn’t get to be capped off with a tradition that did exist.”

Kendall Packman PO ’22 also referred to the importance of having community after more than two semesters spent online.

“Even as a senior who’s a semester behind, we’ve all lost so much time together due to the pandemic that it doesn’t really make sense [to cancel Senior Week],” they said. “Especially with the idea and the central pillar of senior

week being this sense of community and camaraderie and enjoyment before going out into the real world.”

Loumidis didn’t assign much weight to the rationale of concern for students being forced into heavy work loads in condensed periods of time. “[It] maybe holds some amount of truth, but I think it could be something a lot of seniors are willing to sacrifice,” she said.

Packman also questioned that line of reasoning. If students’ learning outcomes and the prevention of intense workloads in short periods of time were a priority for the colleges, they suggested, there would be greater efforts at communication between courses and departments around assignments. Packman cited midterm season as evidence of the way the current schedule already results in time crunches.

According to the letter from the 5C faculty chairs, faculty do understand students’ desire for a Senior Week and for a graduation complete with diplomas. The 5C chairs recommended that graduation ceremonies be delayed by one week in years to come, Armendinger said, in order to allow students to have a Senior Week while also having seniors take finals with the rest of the students in their courses.

Loumidis viewed this solution as a good compromise between the different factors prompting debate over Senior Week, but Mittal wasn’t so sure.

“I think it would be kind of sad for seniors to have the exams with everybody, but then, [if] the time that they have with each other is when the campus is isolated otherwise,” Mittal said. “It’s not the same thing … There is some fun to being able to be on campus when everybody else is still around but be able to engage with them in a different way, but I understand the logistics of that, so I mean it’s better than nothing, for sure.”

She also worried that, with a week between exams and graduation and only the senior class on campus, seniors might just leave and do things exclusively with their own groups of friends, missing out on the bonding experience Senior Week is meant to be.

Discussion around the cancellation of Senior Week will undoubtedly continue, especially since, as Mittal said, “if [Senior Week is] happening this year, then the entire next three years of cohorts will know that it’s a tradition.”

Test-optional policies are sticking ASPC relaunches airport rideshare around for 5C admissions program ANURADHA KRISHNAN

COURTESY: ALBERTO G./FLICKR

The pandemic pushed the 5Cs to make standardized tests optional, but those policies are continuing for now.

ELINA LINGAPPA Although originally just a COVID-19-era necessity, test-optional admissions policies at the 5Cs may be sticking around.

During the 2021-22 admissions cycle, each of the 5Cs were test-optional, a pattern they shared with two-thirds of colleges and universities across the country. But even as classes resume in person, the 5Cs are taking a second look at their traditional testing requirements.

Last month, Harvey Mudd College said in a statement that all first-year and transfer applications through fall 2023 will be test-optional.

HMC’s Vice President of Admission and Financial Aid Thyra Briggs told TSL via email that the school wants to ensure they have enough data around testing before making a permanent decision.

“Since Harvey Mudd is Pass/ Fail for [first-years’] first semester, it is unlikely that we would have enough information to make an informed decision about our future testing policy by the time students applying for 2023 would need to plan their testing,” Briggs said to TSL. Despite common misunderstandings about test-optional applications, Briggs said students

who do not submit scores face no disadvantage.

“38 percent percent of our applicants, 39 percent of our admitted students, and 39 percent of students who enrolled did not have scores,” she said.

Pomona College announced earlier this year that it will also maintain its test-optional policy for four additional years, continuing for the classes of 2026 through 2028. This decision came in tandem with a faculty vote supporting the change.

Pomona Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Seth Allen said the faculty-student committee on admissions will continue to review peer experiences and new research to test the efficacy of testing. Another faculty vote will take place in 2023.

Pomona Director of Admissions Adam Sapp told TSL that the school is already receiving positive responses to their test-optional policy.

“We heard frequently from both high school college counselors and prospective students that the timing of this announcement was greatly appreciated,” Sapp said in an email.

When the Scripps College Board of Trustees voted in early 2020 to maintain their test-optional policy for the foreseeable

future, the school viewed the decision as one based on equitable access.

“This decision supports the College’s mission to provide access to a distinctive education for students who will thrive at Scripps,” the Scripps website says. “The policy to remove the requirement of submitting SAT or ACT scores will allow admission officers to identify and advocate for students with a strong academic profile who may have previously been viewed as less competitive, based on their performance on a single exam.”

Claremont McKenna College will also keep its test-optional policy for the 2022 application cycle due to the pandemic’s impact on testing availability, spokesperson Gilien Silsby told TSL. Pitzer College is taking the initiative further. The school became the first West Coast college to go test-optional in 2003.

Over the summer, the school announced a new three-year pilot initiative to go completely test-blind, meaning students’ test scores will not be considered at all. The school said this policy will allow students to showcase their potential and talents more holistically.

ASPC is offering free rides to the airport before winter break, Ariana Makar PO ’24, the student government’s director of operations, announced in an email to Pomona College students Monday.

The rideshare program will service rides to both Ontario International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) via van and bus.

To gauge student interest in the program and plan out dates and times, Makar’s email included a link to a Google form where students could state what time they need a ride to the airport.

ASPC is recruiting student drivers to drive other students to and from Ontario and LAX. Drivers will be paid $20 an hour to drive vehicles provided by the school and will have flexible schedules, Makar said.

Students must sign up to drive by Dec. 9 by 11:59 p.m., and, upon doing so, will be notified of ride confirmations

on a rolling basis. Students must register as college-approved drivers, Vice President of Finance Adeena Liang PO ’23 added in a Thursday follow-up, which may cover incidents under the college’s insurance policy.

ASPC has experimented with airport shuttle services on and off since at least 2017, when 15 students took advantage of a pilot program for first-year and transfer students.

Sridha Chadalavada PO ’24 is “happy and relieved” that ASPC’s rideshare program will resume.

“I was originally going to have to take an Uber to the LAX airport, which would have cost me almost a hundred dollars. That’s practically the price of a plane ticket,” Chadalavada said. “This rideshare program makes it super easy and convenient for me to travel.”

ASPC has also relaunched its 5C Rideshare site, where students can connect with each other and split the cost of a ride to the airport.

The page now includes the option to find rides to or from Hollywood Burbank Airport, in addition to Ontario and LAX.

COURTESY: THANK YOU VIA FLICKR

ASPC is offering free rides to both LAX and Ontario airports.

News

DECEMBER 3, 2021

RED: Awareness programs will continue

NANAKO NODA • THE STUDENT LIFE

Red flags dotted the Smith Campus Center lawn and other walkways.

Continued from page 1 climate, and on an individual level, we hope that our fellow peers know what kind of treatment they deserve,” Keswa said.

Keswa also stressed the importance of knowing that identifying red and green flags are just “the first step before action is taken, and we should be holding space to identify these signs.”

Lo ok i ng for wa rd, Ke swa said t he Ca mpus Advocates aim to continue their ongoing workshop called “How to Support a Friend” in the upcoming spring semester. The workshop’s main objective is to make sure students are prepared to support their friends with a plan in place to address unhealthy or abusive situations. The plan offers steps to initiate a conversation and how to listen without judgement.

Campus Advocates also offers “Self Care Sundays” events to provide a safe space for survivors and offer wellness activities.

As to what she hopes is the main takeaway from the event, Asch said students should “remember t hat t hey ca n come to the Campus Advocates to receive support surrounding these types of issues.”

Campus Advocates “have the legal privilege of confidentiality to best support survivors who come to us,” Keswa said. The group runs a 24/7 hotline affiliated with Project Sister, a local rape crisis center, and holds periodic drop in hours throughout the week in the Heart Center on the second floor of Walker.

For more information on Campus Advocates, visit their website or call their hotline at 909-626-4357.

The EmPOWER Center has contact information for each 5C’s Advocates at 7csupportandprevention.com.

PAGE 3

KKR: Administration says filming protests is a standard part of demonstration policy Continued from page 1 Wet’suwet’en communities, garnering opposition from Indigenous groups and activists.

At Friday’s protest, demonstrators said they felt members of CMC administration employed tactics, including filming the protest, to intimidate them.

“It seems like the CMC administration is trying to intimidate us,” LoDuca said. “There were multiple administration members out here earlier, recording us, getting our names and telling us that we’re in violation of their poster policy by putting up signs on the Cube.”

CMC spokesperson Gilien Silsby said otherwise.

“There was no attempt to intimidate any participants,” Silsby told TSL via email.

“The only issues were: some individuals did not adhere to the Posting and Advertising Policy, and some individuals failed to show identification when asked to do so.”

Silsby said filming protests

is in accordance with CMC’s demonstration policies and “is not a new practice.” According to the policies, CMC reserves the right to “photograph or videotape any individual participating in a Demonstration” on campus. The rules also state that “any person must identify themselves by photographic identification when asked to do so” by a college official.

KKR Kills organizer Peter Dien CM ’25 said he felt that the use of footage was meant to intimidate activists from organizing in the future.

“We have the right to have the First Amendment academic freedom to protest on campus, yet we have cameras pointed at us,” Dien said Friday afternoon.

“That is a little bit of a coercion tactic that kind of makes us afraid of showing our faces.”

Silsby said CMC has recorded all four KKR demonstrations so far, and that it “provides protection for those who are participating as evidence of their peaceful activity, and for the College as evidence of any

policy violations.”

Having film footage to refer back to “is helpful for simultaneously holding participants and the College accountable for compliance with all policies,” Silsby added.

Dien worried that recording the protest could carry negative consequences for students.

“What if everything [in the protest] goes okay, and it goes good? Now they have all our faces,” Dien said. “We could be incriminated for doing something that is within the policy framework of our school.”

The incident calls CMC’s ranking earlier this year as the nation’s top school for free speech into question, Dien said.

The Foundation of Individual Rights in Education takes colleges’ policies and “the varied dimensions of free expression on campus” into account in an annual list of free speech rankings.

Students also voiced concerns in response to being told that if they did not comply to share their student IDs, the film footage from the protest would be

used to identify them and alert their school deans.

“There were people who did not want to share their name, and they were told that if they were non-compliant, and that their deans would be informed they were non-compliant, and we would all be getting emails from our deans next week,” LoDuca said.

As the protest unfolded, one of the KKR Kills organizers awaited disciplinary measures from Pitzer College for entering Roberts Pavilion in an earlier protest this semester, according to a KKR Kills Instagram post on Dec. 1. The student was later cited for putting posters on the Cube on Nov. 19 and refusing to remove them, the post showed.

The protest also coincided with a developing confrontation between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police force and the Wet’suwet’en Indigenous group in Canada over a blockade that was meant to deter development on the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Siena Swift contributed reporting.

ANNA CHOI • THE STUDENT LIFE

KKR Kills demonstrators have been organizing against two CMC trustees’ investments in pipelines they claim infringe on Indigenous land.

BOOSTER: Shots available at area pharmacies as new variant adds concern Continued from page 1 9, state public health director Dr. Tomás J. Aragón said in a statement that anyone over 18 can receive booster shots.

Those who originally received the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine must wait at least six months after their initial dose to receive a booster. For those who took the J&J vaccine, the wait time is only two months.

“I strongly urge everyone who is eligible to get one now,” Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr said in a Dec. 1 email.

St a r r d i r ec ted st ude nt s to the Los Angeles County Health Depart ment website for more information.

Students looking to receive their booster shots can look to pharmacies i n t he local area.

Appointments are recommended, but many local pharmacies also take walk-ins. Students can also use the state’s MyTurn portal to find and schedule an appointment nearby.

Hendricks Pharmacy, located in the Claremont Village, has been a favorite site for students to receive their vaccines. Only a five to 20 minute walk from the 5Cs, appointments for a booster

shot can be made online.

Brian Garner, the owner of Hendricks and a pharmacist, told TSL it ’s esp ec ia l ly i mportant for college students to receive their booster shot since they live in a high risk environment.

“For college students in particular, the more at risk you are of being in contact with others that have the virus, then the more important it is to keep your immunity up,” he said.

“For those that are in close quarters with multiple people that also go out to other places, you want to make sure that you’re keeping your protection.”

Ot her nearby phar mac ies offer i ng COVID-19 boosters include Vons, Walgreens, CVS and Walmart.

Claremont Pharmacy, located about a mile south of Pomona’s ca mpus, a lso of fers booster shots. In Pomona, Express Pharmacy and Royal Pharmacy carry booster doses. In Montclair, students can visit the Medicine Shoppe a nd ABC Pharmac y, the latter of which also offers boosters at its Upland location.

Student Health Services Director Dr. Prateek Jindal echoed officials’ booster shot endorse-

ment in a Nov. 22 statement.

“At this time, consistent with public health guidance, I would like to encourage all 7C students to seek booster doses against COVID-19 infection, if they haven’t received a booster already,” he said.

The arrival of booster shots is raising questions for those looking to receive them. For instance, is it okay to mix and match vaccine brands?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s okay to receive a booster shot different from the initial vaccine received. While the CDC has not put out official recommendations for which booster to get, it stresses that any booster builds back immunity and lowers the r isk of i n fect ion. T herefore, people should get whatever booster is most readily available to them.

Nala Berry PZ ’24 chose to receive the Moderna booster shot at Hendricks Pharmacy right before Thanksgiving break. It was important to her that she receive the booster before Thanksgiving break, as she would be traveling and around family members, she said.

“I feel like if you can take

the precautions needed to prevent getting COVID, that’s the best that we can do as college students. And it may seem like we’re invincible, or it may seem like we might not get it, but it still can happen,” Berry said.

“And no one wants to be sick, especially on a college campus when so much of what you’re doing is independent and you don’t really have your family to support you.”

Garner said that since booster shots build up immunity lost over time in the human body, he expects additional boosters in the future.

“I would expect even additional boosters coming maybe 6-12 more months later. We don’t know, we have to wait for the research, but research is kind of ongoing. So it’ll be some time before we know exactly what the schedule is going to be,” he said.

On Dec. 1, the San Francisco Depa r t me nt of Hea lt h confirmed the first known case of the Omicron variant in the United States. Omicron is categorized as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization as of Nov. 26.

Although much is still unknown about the Omicron vari-

Interested in joining TSL? We’re hiring for all positions next semester! Check back at tsl.news/apply for details in January, and send questions to editor@tsl.news.

ant, such as whether it causes more severe illness or how it might impact response to treatment, the California Department of Public Health states that it has many mutations in important areas that impact infectiousness and the immune system’s ability to protect against infection.

“We don’t know everything we need to know yet about the Omicron variant. But we know that vaccination is a safe and effective way to protect yourself from severe illness and complications from all known SARS-CoV-2 variants to date,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, t he director of t he CDC, said Nov. 30.

Los Angeles County and the city of LA recently updated their vaccine mandates, with enforcement beginning Nov. 29. Claremont is still lagging behind LA County vaccination rates. As of Nov. 25, 64.8 percent of Claremont residents over the age of five are fully vaccinated, compared to 67.2 percent countywide.

On Thursday, Keck Graduate Institute held a Pfizer COVID-19 booster clinic at Student Health Services, partnering with CVS. Appointments filled up within hours of the clinic’s announcement.

Corrections The byline for an opinions article about the state of the film industry was incorrect. It was written by Sae Furukawa PO ’25, not Shay Suresh CM ’24.

TSL regrets the error.

PAGE 4

Arts & Culture

AAMP: Asian American Mentor Program art exhibit debuts at Hive

EMMA JENSEN • THE STUDENT LIFE

About 112 students came to see the over 40 pieces featured in the Untold Stories Art Exhibition.

Continued from page 1 “The main objective of the exhibit is to highlight the voices of APIDA artists because APIDA artists don’t get a lot of attention in mainstream art and culture in general,” Lam said.

Lam explained that a committee within Pomona College’s Asian American Mentor Program began planning the Untold Stories Art Exhibition at the start of the semester. In addition to Lam, the committee includes head mentor Kano Cheng PO ’22, Ashley Sun PO ’22, Krystal Yang PO ’23, Janelle Li PO ’23 and Jacinda Lee PO ’24.

“The first half of the semester we spent just soliciting submissions,” Lam said. “The last two or three weeks have been organizing how we’re going to set up the exhibit [and] how we are going to set up the website.”

The website is an archive of all the artwork from this year, as well as the past academic year.

“It’s been a lot of work, but it’s going really well, so we’re very happy with it,” Lam said.

The committee’s hard work paid off. While exploring the exhibit, one could hear a pin drop as students quietly contemplated each piece carefully. The compelling works were intensely intimate, questioning, explaining or simply exploring various aspects of each artist.

One of the two woven-cloth pieces of Karina Behera PO ’25 depicts a spinning dancer, drawing from the tradition of Kathak dance.

“Art encourages appreciation, and using it as a medium for communication allows the subject to be seen in a different way,” she said.

The dancer is embroidered

beautifully in purple, an homage to the symbolic notion of reincarnation that purple holds in the Indian culture.

“I made sure that all of the figures were connected by one string to represent the single soul morphing into different bodies and lives,” Behera explained.

Her second piece similarly explores the intersection of symbolic color and Indian culture via a portrait of a woman on a piece of soft-pink paper created by Behera.

“I portrayed pink’s symbolic significance of femininity,” she said. “By creating paper, I strove to mirror the feminine power to create life. The dancer is in a position of offering, which further adds to the representation of how women give life.”

Her piece draws attention to the power of women.

“The simultaneously subdued and bold style of the figure’s painting shows how women can embody both sides of the spectrum,” Behera said.

The Untold Exhibition art pieces strongly resonated with other APIDA students such as Rahul Jain PO ’24, who commented on a poem written and performed by Muriel Alejandrino.

“It resonated with me because coming from an Asian background, the arts aren’t super emphasized, so it seems like something to keep to yourself,” Jain said. “I think Muriel’s piece was about expression and just sharing or just doing some kind of art for yourself. Even if it’s not award-winning, it’s still something to be proud of and worth pursuing.”

December 3, 2021

LET’S SPILL THE POP CULTURE TEA

Hilarious, thought provoking ‘Hacks’ is worth a watch ANNA TOLKIEN Deborah Vance is an arsonist, comedian, mother, friend and, most importantly, an icon in HBO Max’s “Hacks.”

The show is a wonderful portrayal of the complexity of characters and does a great job showcasing an unlikely friendship and mentorship between longtime comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her unwanted Gen Z ghostwriter Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder).

“Hacks” has taken the entertainment world by storm, with Jean Smart winning this year’s Emmy for Lead Comedy Actress and the show receiving a nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series 2021. The show has rave reviews in Vulture, The New Yorker and Variety. The consensus of reviews agree that the show is addictive, genuinely funny and sparks dialogues about important questions.

At the start of the show, while Deborah lives a fastpaced life of glamour and hustle during the day, she ends her nights alone in her Las Vegas fortress with her only company being her house staff and two corgis.

When Ava loses her support system and Los Angeles lifestyle after being cancelled for making a homophobic tweet about a conservative senator’s reaction to his son being gay, she’s disillusioned from the Los Angeles lifestyle and spiraling out of control.

She can’t afford her home, she and her girlfriend have split and the only gig her manager can find her is helping Deborah write jokes to keep her image fresh so she can keep her stand-up gig at the Palmetto Casino, all to Deborah’s dismay. These circumstances are the perfect recipe for a pressure cooker of craziness and desperation, which comes out deliciously in both of the main characters.

The moment these two characters meet, viewers are transported to a world of wit, dark humor and Zoomer versus Boomer. Deborah’s flowing dresses and false lashes are quite different to Ava’s combat boots and sailor T shirts. Ava’s cocky and Deborah’s dismissive. This striking difference between the two lends to a witty banter that brings them closer, and I found their ability to poke fun at themselves and each other refreshing in a world today where we are often hypersensitive and self-aware.

I loved watching Ava and Deborah’s friendship grow from a rivalry to a mutual respect and the ways in which the two face off in verbal and sometimes even physical sparring, while still communicating in their own unique and secret love language.

Another aspect of the show I loved was the way that comedy and seriousness are used to depict realworld problems in a way

that feels authentic and witty.

Deborah copes with her failed relationship with her daughter, a false accusation of burning her ex-husband’s house down and constant sexism in the entertainment industry with self-deprecation and laughter.

She’s able to take the reins when life doesn’t go her way by marketing her hardships to boost her success. She doesn’t let critics and rumors get in her way; in fact, they’re launchpads for jokes in her stand-up set.

One of the most moving lines in the show for me was when Deborah is doing an interview and says stand-up is the only time she doesn’t feel alone, and that we are born alone and die alone and that so many people are afraid to accept that. To me, this demonstrates how Deborah and Ava’s story is an exploration of loneliness and companionship.

The two women are both single and alienated from their families, finding home in their work life. Ava even finds herself fantasizing about Deborah, but she realizes it’s because she’s only ever associated intimacy with sex. This opens an interesting dialogue about what intimacy is today, and if relationships are a magic fix to the emptiness and loneliness that people feel.

I finished the show realizing that confidence comes from within, not from the people around you. Selfunderstanding, confidence and pride give us fulfillment, not just being a wife or mother or girlfriend. Deborah’s staff grapples with similar issues that Deborah had with her daughter and ex-husband — whether it’s possible to have a highpowered career while being a present, committed partner to their significant other.

Deborah’s Chief Operating Officer Marcus’ (Carl ClemonsHopkins) entire life revolves

around Deborah. He’s been on the road with her, plans her day down to the minute and knows what makes her tick. His relationship with his boyfriend is sacrificed when he spends too much time at work, which made me intrigued and question my own personal priorities.

Should work trump our personal lives? What do we do when our significant others disapprove of our careers? The answer isn’t clear cut. The show insinuates that it’s okay to let our careers take the driver’s seat, but it’s a lonely and difficult road.

We should find a chosen family, a support system, a way to cope with the tough realities that come with aging and reality.

I think Vegas is the perfect setting for the show. With the focus on Ava being cancelled, Vegas is a total culture shock for her from Los Angeles.

Deborah makes it clear that in Vegas, anything goes. Everyone is unique, and there’s such an oversaturation of eccentricity that nobody is shocked anymore.

Ava finds Deborah’s unfiltered honesty and acceptance to be both refreshing and shocking, and I enjoyed the show’s clash between filtered Gen Z perspectives and an older, more raw perspective.

Both Ava and Deborah learn from each other, and are pushed to grow and change their ways.

This show is worth a watch. Its dialogue is more than just funny; it’s compelling and digs deeper into issues like ageism, sexism, work-life balance and cancel culture. If you want a 10- episode escape into a world of comedy battles, LED face masks, drug trips, comedy skits, blackmail, jewelry expos and drive-through weddings, then dive into the world of “Hacks.”

Anna Tolkien CM ’24 is one of TSL’s pop culture columnists. She’s a media studies and literature dual major and loves her pugs, iced coffee and Timothée Chalamet movies.

COURTESY: ANNE MARIE FOX/HBO MAX

Anna Tolkien CM ‘24 praises “Hacks” and its nuanced portrayal of the relationship between the two main characters.

Ruff week? Volunteer to walk shelter dogs with Priceless Pets LUISA FERNANDA ECHEVERRIA BEDOYA The setting sun casts golden light on the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. A group of students waits behind a strip on the other side of Foothill Boulevard, just a few minutes’ walk from the edge of Harvey Mudd College.

At last, a door opens: out comes Blue, a bluish-black pit bull with huge, sweet eyes. She looks adorable, eager to receive pets and

ready for a walk around the block. Soon after comes Jethro — a hound full of energy with ridiculously soft ears — and Marty McFly, Opal, Nova, Bubby … all very good dogs living at Priceless Pets, a no-kill shelter about a 15-minute walk north of the Claremont Colleges.

According to Pitzer College economics professor Maya Federman, a volunteer at the shelter, there are two other locations, one in Chino Hills and another

COURTESY: GEORGIA KLEIN

Priceless Pets often partners with 5C organizations for dog volunteering events, most recently on Nov. 21 with Mudders Making a Difference.

in Costa Mesa, with a fourth in Irwindale opening soon. Beyond dogs, they rescue cats, rabbits and guinea pigs, taking care of them until they find forever homes.

At this HMC event on Nov. 21 organized by Mudders Making a Difference (MMAD), students volunteered to walk the dogs. As a student organization affiliated with the Community Engagement Office at HMC, MMAD organizes community service events, such as this dog walk, and advertises them to students.

This is their second time organizing this activity, after their first one on Nov. 7 was met with great success. For each event, more than 20 students signed up, doubling the initially projected turnout. As a result of this paw-pularity, MMAD hopes to hold a third walk on Dec. 11, according to Georgia Klein HM ’24, who is leading the events.

A dog-related event had been in discussion at MMAD meetings since the beginning of the semester. Dog walking turned out to be an easy event to put together; unlike other ways of volunteering with the shelter, it does not require any training or form-filling.

“We are going off-campus, engaging with the world around us,” Klein said about the appeal of the activity. “Sometimes as a 5C student, I feel like I just go to Mudd and forget where I am in the greater context of the world.”

And, of course, there are the dogs.

“It’s really amazing to interact with them,” Klein said. “You can see how happy they are.”

Federman helped coordinate the activity with MMAD. She’s been volunteering with the shelter for several years, helping out almost every day. She said a couple of volunteers at the shelter are students from the Claremont Colleges, and Federman has been reaching out to the colleges to find ways to connect with more students.

So, events such as the one organized by MMAD are more than welcome.

“We would love to have more students [volunteering], because it’s so therapeutic,” Federman said. “It’s a very flexible volunteer opportunity. You don’t have to commit to a certain time. If you have an hour, or even half an hour — that’s a half hour that a dog gets some love.”

To volunteer for Priceless Pets, students fill out a form, then complete an online or on-site orientation. Though there’s no time commitment or expectation, the shelter needs volunteers in the mornings during weekdays the most. Federman recommends that students email her if they apply to make sure that their form gets processed.

“If there is a group of students who want to organize an event, they can just shoot me an email,”

Federman said. “It’s so easy — we are right here, and it’s a great opportunity for the dogs.”

Fur sure, volunteering and helping walk the dogs are not the only ways of supporting the shelter. They have a link to an Amazon wishlist on their page for donating supplies — there is always something they need, be it cleaning supplies or poop bags.

For students who live off-campus and in housing that permits pets, fostering is also an option.

The shelter often has medical fosters or older dogs who would benefit from a calmer environment than what it can provide. Moreover, sometimes there are also pregnant dogs or cats that can only be taken in if a foster is available.

Priceless Pets offers everything that may be needed to take care of the foster, including supplies like food and toys and support like vet care.

“I think that [fostering] would be great for a student,” Federman said. “You know you are going to graduate and can’t necessarily commit to a dog for the next five years or eight years, but you can commit for a couple months or weeks.”

Those interested in fostering can also find information about it on their webpage or contact Federman directly via email.

And if anyone is looking to adopt, all the pets in the Priceless Pets system are posted on their website.

December 3, 2021

Arts & Culture

PAGE 5

‘House of Desires’ offers a hilarious, nuanced history lesson MIRABELLA MILLER The Pomona College theater department’s mainstage show for the fall, “House of Desires,” may have been written in 1683 and set in the 1950s, yet its timeless comedy still proved wildly entertaining to modern audiences.

“I saw it, and then I went to see it again, just because I had so much fun the first time around,” Gabi Seifert SC ’23 said. “It was really entertaining the whole time. I was never left sitting, waiting for something to happen.”

“House of Desires” ran from Nov. 18-21 at the Seaver Theatre at Pomona. It was written in 1683 by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a nun residing in Mexico City, and is considered one of the foundational theatrical pieces of colonial Latin America.

It centers on multiple overlapping love triangles and takes place almost entirely in a single location, creating an atmosphere of chaos and confusion where misunderstandings abound and miscommunications fuel the plot.

The play was directed by guest director Beth Lopes, a freelance theater director based in Los Angeles. “House of Desires” was her first time working with the Pomona College theater department. According to Lopes, one of the challenges in staging “House of Desires” was navigating these misunderstandings and deciding how and when to convey what each character knew to the audience.

“This script is so challenging,” she said. “There’s so many elements that you can hear in conversation with writers of around the same time, like Shakespeare, you know, mistaken identities and disguise and that sort of thing, but Sor Juana has managed to escalate them to the next level. The fact that she keeps the ball in the air for as long as she does, of who can hear what [and] when... there’s just so much going on.”

One of the ways the play conveys this is through rapid-fire asides to the audience, in which the characters take turns breaking the fourth wall to give the audience an inside look at their true motivations or re-

COURTESY: EVAN JOHNSON

“House of Desires” is a 17th century play whose plot follows overlapping love triangles and is fueled by misunderstandings and miscommunications.

actions. Grace Tomblin Marca SC ’22, who played multiple roles in the play, described how the play started to take shape once these asides became seamless during the rehearsal process.

“The lights and the sound change, and everyone freezes, and one character gets to have a moment with the audience,” she said. “When that started, it was so chaotic, because all these elements have to come together to make those moments work. But when they started to get really clean, that was so much fun.”

Youssef El Mosalami PO ’24, who plays a servant named Castaño, is relatively new to theatre, with “House of Desires” being their second in-person show.

They were grateful for the welcoming community the cast was able to create in just a short amount of time.

“I think I didn’t realize how nice it was going to be to go from people that we didn’t know like two months beforehand to being really

close at the end,” they said. “People always talk about how theater is a family but I didn’t really expect for it to feel like one until we did our last show and I was like, ‘I’m going to miss this group.’ Everyone really wanted to be there, which was something that really made me really excited.”

For Andrew Gewecke PO ’24, “House of Desires” was doubly special due to both its signaling of the return to in-person theatre and the resources the Pomona theater department was able to devote to the play.

“It was especially meaningful to me because my high school had a very small theater program...and now I come here and there’s these and there’s a theater with this full costume shop and realistic props and I get to play someone who has a serious, named part with a whole character arc,” he said. “You get to be very invested in it in a way that I haven’t gotten to do before and that I’ve always wanted to do and that was really special. It’s the most

work and the most reward I’ve put into a production by far.”

“House of Desires” features extremely progressive themes for its time, exploring female desire, agency and the subversion of gendered expectations.

“It’s surprisingly super relevant, partly because Sor Juana was so ahead of her time. We chose to set it in the [19]50s because the ’50s was this time when the whole idea of love, duty and honor that is so prevalent in this time kind of comes back a bit,” Tomblin Marca said.

Lopes described how at the time “House of Desires” was written, women at the time that “House of Desires” was written had to navigate strict notions of etiquette and honor while trying to balance their hopes and desires with the expectations of the men around them.

“I think the most relevant throughline is that there is just an impossible tightrope that femaleidentifying people in this world

are expected to walk… ..and I think that that is still very much alive today and also in this play,” she said.

This dynamic is especially reflected in the character of Doña Ana, played by Lucia Stein SC ’23.

“Doñna Ana, from the beginning, is sort of running the show and is really taking her own destiny into her own hands, which is something that wasn’t [historically] afforded women, let alone putting it on stage and having her be the central figure,” she said.

Gewecke thinks that the perpetual relevance of the themes of “House of Desires” helps connect us to the past and legitimizes our continued struggle to understand these ideas.

“I’m always struck by the writing from a long time ago that has made it to today, and how relevant it still is to basic human problems,” he said.

“Like the fact that we’re still writing about ‘I love her and she doesn’t love me and it sucks’ for basically 2,000 years is remarkable. I really think it’s a powerful thing to feel connected to people 500 years ago because it’s nice to know that there’s some sort of continuity within the species or the world or the cultural milieu. I feel like it almost validates it a little bit. The fact that we’re still struggling with this stuff, like love, means it must be somewhat important,” he said.

The complex explorations of “House of Desire” also reject blackand- white understandings of the time period and add nuance to our perceptions of it.

“I think it’s even more remarkable given the fact that we sometimes feel so distant from other time periods,” he continued. “It’s easy to look at something like rampant misogyny in the 1600s and characterize the entire time period as barbaric because of that and in a way it is, but they still dealt with heartbreak and fear and overthinking and everyday life, like the struggles that I think that we would very find relevant if we just reframe them a little bit. And I think that’s why we still perform these.”

Editor’s note: Lucia Stein SC ’23 is a news writer for TSL.

5C D&D Club embraces sELFPortrait of a novelist on expression, welcomes new players the brink of stardom LITERARY WANDERINGS

ELIZA POWERS

In a harshly lit Pomona College classroom on a warm Tuesday evening, three goblins and an excommunicated monk plot to overthrow a corrupt vampire mayor.

“Suddenly, you fall through the painting into an abandoned hallway,” says Julia Qin HM ’25, the “Dungeon Master” and a member of the 5C Dungeons and Dragons Club. She leads the game with narrative prowess, the kind of campfire or ghost story lull reminiscent of conspiratorial looks by a candlelit pub in a blizzard.

Qin’s campaign is meticulously plotted, from teenage ghosts who whiz by the players on broomsticks on the street, to the detailed teenage angst of a human the players find in the Haunted House. She gives away just enough, but not too much. A clue, but not a key. A nudge, but never a golden ticket. The rest is up to the players.

D&D is, at its core, a role-playing game. But instead of choosing a character, players create one. Each “campaign,” or continuing storyline, is unique, with three to six people meeting with pre-planned characters. Different “species’’ come with special talents and powers, such as Religion, Deception and Animal Handling.

“For me, a lot of fun comes with playing someone different than my normal personality,” Qin said. “… It’s kind of like theater: you’re trying out different roles.

And so I might be someone more

outgoing or someone who’s older or younger.”

Qin’s favorite character to date is a little more eccentric.

“Playing someone who might turn into a pigeon while drunk,” she said. “Completely silly, does not make sense, but that’s kind of the freedom D&D gives you.”

D&D allows players to explore a different gender, an opportunity Max Cui PO ’25 found surprisingly accessible.

He played as a female-identifying tiefling.

“It feels a bit strange, but I wouldn’t say that ultimately it ended up affecting things too much,” Cui said. “After the initial weirdness wore off, it was just kind of normal.”

It is through this individuality that D&D expands on the two-dimensional game pieces of other games. Players must contend with each other’s differences and know when to act, when to listen or when to watch.

Yet D&D is a game that is often stigmatized.

“I think a major stereotype [of the D&D community] is the geeky nerd,” Qin said.

But the 5C community, built with geeky nerds, works to dismantle these stereotypes by celebrating them.

“I think it really depends on who you talk to in terms of what sort of perceptions you might get,” Qin said. “In my high school, [D&D] wasn’t really a thing, but I think part of it is the bias of Harvey Mudd ... it’s a lot more normalized [here]. And so

it seems like everyone’s heard of it.”

Another main stereotype is the preconception that players must have significant experience to participate.

“I definitely think it can be a little intimidating to get into,” said Barbara Norton PO ’25, a new player this year. “I had this misconception that you had to be really good and really experienced to join the D&D club at the 5Cs.” But Norton insists that the game isn’t as impenetrable as it looks.

“It is complex but also at the same time is quite a bit easier than it looks, and it’s just a really great opportunity to have a lot of fun with some interesting people,” she said.

And for the social justice-motivated 5C community, the political parallels are fruitful.

“I think [games usually fall] into the classic trope of you’re some sort of rebel against some sort of government,” Qin said. “In general, I think the underdog story does really well in D&D.” The 5C D&D club encourages new players to join, with campaigns set aside for beginners.

“My campaign is for beginners, and I’m with my friends who have also never played — and that makes it even more fun,” Norton said. “So I definitely recommend it to people, even if they don’t have any experience. I 100% recommend it.”

CLARE MARTIN • THE STUDENT LIFE

MARIANA DURAN • THE STUDENT LIFE

RYAN LILLESTRAND Lying on a footless sofa in a small student apartment, singing with the windows down in a cluttered 2000 Honda Accord, planning classes on a lazy afternoon with Pavement playing in the background — these are the dreamily quotidian settings of Anthony Veasna So’s essay “Baby Yeah.”

Dedicated to his friend who passed away the previous year, the essay is one of the most poignant portraits of friendship that I have ever read. In processing the tragic death of his closest friend, So weaves together a mesmerizing story propelled by some alchemy of beautiful turns of phrase and simple, straightforward storytelling that makes his writing sing.

The first time I read the piece, I was floored and instantly attracted by the core tenets of his style: casual, slightly offbeat, piercingly honest. The piece drove me down a rabbit hole, digging up other essays and stories he had published in years prior. This surely, I thought, is a new voice on the cusp of stardom — everybody else in the literary world seemed to be saying so as well.

Then, only months after the publication of “Baby Yeah,” So was also gone. He passed away last December at the age of 28.

His first collection of short stories, “Afterparties,” was posthumously published in August. I started reading it the same week.

While I didn’t love every piece in the collection (as is the case with all short story collections), there were some that I had to read more than once. So was a bright star on the American literary horizon, illuminating the experience of growing up gay and Cambodian-American in Stockton and the Bay Area, the two primary settings in the collection.

With each progressive story, So reveals another layer to the experience of growing up on a multitude of margins; some stories are clearly drawn from So’s personal experiences, while others introduce vibrant, carefully composed characters from a lifetime living in Central California.

The first story of the collection, “The Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts,” which can also be read

as a standalone piece in the New Yorker, is perhaps the best showcase of So’s delicate but sure hand.

The story’s three central characters, a mother and her two daughters, run a 24-hour doughnut shop in a Stockton strip mall. Each of them is grappling with their own challenges and confusions: an estranged husband, a confounding class project, the mysterious man who comes in each night to buy an apple fritter he never eats. Through subtle shifts in perspective, So illuminates the interior world of each character as the events of the story unfold.

With each successive night at the shop, three unique and deeply nuanced interior worlds are formed, building towards a crescendo on the final night — it is stunning work for a 30-page short story. It is a brief glimpse into So’s seemingly boundless abilities.

While many of the stories that make up the collection were less impressive, the collection as a whole has the feeling of a sketchpad with So clearly experimenting, taking risks and seeing what works.

The book is spilling with possible branches stretching to future novels, essays and stories.

His was a literary career bursting with potential but cut startlingly short. Prior to his death, he had already secured a $300,000 two-book deal with Ecco, with a personal roadmap that stretched roughly five books into the future. So knew where he was headed; he was well on his way to becoming a prominent member of a new vanguard in American literature.

A final collection of So’s essays and stories is set to be published in the near future, but that will likely be the last of his work available to readers. “Afterparties,” with its flashes of brilliance, will remain the portrait of a young novelist on the crest of it all.

There is an intensely bittersweet aura surrounding the book’s publication and the devastating passing of its author, a somber sense of the fragility of everything perhaps best captured by the Vonnegut quote So had tattooed on his right arm: “And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.”

Ryan Lillestrand PZ ’23 is TSL’s book columnist. He is looking forward to the additional reading time approaching in two weeks.

PAGE 6

Arts & Culture

December 3, 2021

‘Librarians don’t sit around and read all day’: Behind-the-scenes with three dynamic Honnold Mudd Librarians

CECILIA RANSBURG • THE STUDENT LIFE

Arts and Humanities Librarian Kendra Macomber, Interdisciplinary Librarian Nazia Islam and STEM Librarian Katie Kohn hold a variety of responsibilities, including researching, working on personal projects, assisting students, and advertising resources.

KATE JONES You’d be hard-pressed to find a student that hasn’t spent late nights studying at the Honnold/ Mudd Library. With finals around the corner, working underneath the fluorescent lights on the fourth floor has become a staple in many students’ lives.

However, Honnold/Mudd is more than just a convenient place to meet for group projects or stay up until 1 a.m. without bothering your roommates — it’s run by a number of brilliant librarians specializing in different academic areas and research processes.

TSL reached out to three via email about their experiences becoming college librarians: Arts and Humanities Librarian Kendra Macomber, Interdisciplinary Librarian Nazia Islam and STEM Librarian Katie Kohn.

Macomber always knew she wanted to be a librarian.

“I am one of the lucky ones,”

she said. “I knew what I wanted to do from a young age …

During recess in elementary school, I would shelve books instead of going out to the playground.”

However, this isn’t everyone’s path — Kohn decided to pursue librarianship in the midst of her dissertation research, after having previously decided to pursue being a chemistry professor, and Islam’s interest began with a job at her school’s library while pursuing her first master’s degree.

Though the three became interested in their career path at different times in their lives, one factor was consistent: a lot of time spent in academic spaces.

“It is not uncommon for librarians in higher education to have multiple graduate degrees,” Macomber said.

At the Claremont Colleges Library, Macomber provides research assistance related to art,

English and media studies; Islam assists with social sciences and humanities, with a special interest in anthropology; and Kohn supports astronomy, biology, chemistry, engineering, math, neuroscience and physics.

Though some may stereotype librarianship as a solitary endeavor, the three librarians all highlighted interacting with others as one of their favorite parts of their job.

“The best part of my day is when I’m visiting a class to discuss research strategies or meeting with students or faculty 1:1 to talk about their research,” Macomber said.

Islam revealed that working with students on their research often comes with learning a thing or two herself.

“The most rewarding part of my job is being able to help students with their research and learning so much from them in return,” she said. “I find out

new things constantly with all the wonderful work our students are doing.”

Kohn felt similarly.

“As a librarian, I’m constantly learning about research that I would never have encountered otherwise,” she said.

However, Kohn added that advertising the scope of personal resources and one-on-one support the librarians offer to the 5C community can be challenging.

“I love helping people solve problems [and] teaching them about resources and skills that they can use going forward.

And yet, one of my main challenges is making people aware of the many ways that librarians can do just that,” Kohn said.

“I’m always looking for new ways to reach out to students and faculty, so that they don’t hesitate to reach out to me when they need help.”

Outreach isn’t the only challenge that comes with being a librarian. Honnold/Mudd is a large library, serving all 7Cs, which can be difficult to navigate.

“A healthy challenge I have is keeping track of everything going on at all the different colleges,” Islam said.

Scholarly sources can be uniquely complex to work with as well.

“A lot of times, libraries are at the mercy of publishers for pricing and what they make available to libraries. For example, publishers will raise prices of materials at a faster pace than inflation or make many books not available to libraries as e-books, like textbooks,” Macomber said.

“One of my biggest goals as a librarian is to facilitate access to information for people, so navigating these hurdles can be a challenge.”

Outside of research support, Honnold/Mudd librarians engage in their own research and personal projects. Macomber and Islam curate the library’s zine collection together, which Macomber listed as one of her favorite endeavors.

“Our zine collection at the

Library focuses primarily on work by people of color, LGBTQ people, women and Claremont Colleges students,” Macomber said. “It’s always a highlight in the semester when we get new zine donations from students, or I get to visit classes and talk about zines.”

These personal projects extend beyond curation — they can involve research or event organizing as well.

“I’m working with a few colleagues on inclusive metadata where we are thinking about ways of having our library catalog and archival descriptions be inclusive … ” Islam said.

Kohn, for her part, works with Claremont Discourse, a seminar series hosted by The Claremont Colleges Library which centers on 7C faculty’s academic work.

“These lectures are meant to be accessible to a wide audience and encourage conversation across disciplinary contexts,” she said. “My favorite part of college was attending seminars, usually on topics completely unrelated to my degree, but it can be hard to keep track of everything going on across all the departments, programs and colleges here … I love that we highlight that diversity of research all in one place.”

There is a fairly dominant mental stereotype of what it means to work at a library, one implanted perhaps by childhood media or a particularly memorable middle-school librarian.

“I think librarianship comes with a lot of stereotypes of shushing people, wearing cardigans and having cats,” Macomber said.

However, especially at the college level, these stereotypes are simply untrue.

“Librarians don’t sit around and read all day,” Islam said, and it appears that she is right: From just these three samples, it is clear that being a librarian means engaging deeply with research, academia and student interests, with a whole lot of passion and intellect.

“As a subject librarian, my job is as much about people as it is about information resources,” Kohn said.

We Are Living History hosts lively night market centering women of color ELLEN WANG Live music, food and student vendors formed an intimate scene at the night market centering women of color, which was jointly held by the Pitzer College clubs We Are Living History (WALH) and Green Bike Program.

WALH is an affinity club for Black, Indigenous and women of color at Pitzer. The event took place at 7:30 pm on Nov. 19 at The Grove House, and featured performances from a Pitzer dance crew and 5C student musicians.

Samar Mann PZ ’22 organized the four-hour-long event in collaboration with other students from WALH from the 5Cs. “Being women of color, especially at the 5Cs and in Claremont, there’s not a lot of representation,” Mann said. “There’s not a lot of dialogue about what it is like to have this identity especially in this space and I don’t think that there’s a lot of opportunity given for POC, and especially women of color, to express themselves artistically.

And so that’s really what we wanted this to be — an opportunity to bring together a community and raise awareness about our organization and have a community event where POC are centered.”

Ally Pardo PZ ’23 also worked to execute the event and helped cofound WALH in spring 2020 before campus life was cut short due to COVID-19.

“When we founded this group, we envisioned uniting the women of color across campus because I feel there’s a lot of cross-[campus] solidarity,” Pardo said. “Having this market today is really something that we wanted to host to showcase the art of BIWOC in this community and also open it to the larger BIWOC community at the 5Cs.” Organizing a night market during COVID had its unique struggles, especially for upperclassmen who had been on campus for, at most, three semesters before quarantine. However, student organizations supported each other in navigating obstacles like club budget cuts and location changes to ensure safety.

“I think it was really, really comforting to see how willing

a lot of the affinity groups on campus are,” Mann said. “They were just incredibly supportive and... it was really easy to find co-sponsors and they would give us ideas and advice. It was like sharing wisdom among all these affinity groups to help us in what we were trying to do tonight.”

Even during the event, organizers were on their feet coordinating each element. Moving behind the scenes, they let the stars of the night shine.

“That [women of color students] get this opportunity to showcase their art was something really, really, really fulfilling as an organizer,” Pardo said.

At one of the vendor booths, Marisa Branco PZ ’22 showcased zines she made featuring pictures of her great grandmother, blackout poetry from interview excerpts with her grandparents and documentation of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 against Spanish colonizers.

“I’ve been making zines and little books since high school, and it’s just a way I can write my own histories and put images and text in conversation,” Branco said. “I hope that my art helps to communicate the richness but also [the] subjectivity of indigenous resistance and stories.”

Other vendors sold homemade jewelry, including Milly Chi PZ ’22. Chi had only started to make jewelry several weeks before the event and spent the 48 hours before the event making an arrangement of earrings and other jewelry.

“I really like the simplicity of the wire, but I’m kind of a maximalist,” Chi said. “I like to make things more complicated. So I feel like that reflects in everything I make.”

Chi finds inspiration and materials for her creations through thrifting and combining other craft methods. Despite making beautiful earring pieces and donning a pair herself, she does not have pierced ears and instead wears clip-on earrings, often found from thrift shops.

“I really like thrifting, I really like things that are vintage, I really like found pieces,” Chi said. “I was first inspired to make my own earrings because I had an old pair of clip-on earrings that I got from Etsy. I was like, ‘How do I repurpose, make something new from them?’ I just have a lot of beads and vintage jewelry lying around. I was like, ‘Let me turn them into something that people will like.’”

Chi said she hopes her jewelry can serve as inspiration to others just as the process of creating them has pushed her beyond her lifestyle and fashion comfort zone, and encourages people to be more creative and feel free to dress out of the box more often.

“I’m really excited to be able to table at a woman of color-centric, student-led night market, because it makes me really excited to sell to specifically my woman of color friends and create a community among the women of color at Pitzer,” Chi said.

While WALH has bigger ambitions for mobilizating women of color on campus, the organizers hoped the night market would serve as a start.

“I just hope that BIWOC, who attend this event or hear about this event, know that there’s a space for them, and know that they have a community here on campus,” Mann said. “I also hope that people who come and see the art are maybe potentially inspired to pursue something of their own.”

SELENA LOPEZ • THE STUDENT LIFE

Opinions

December 3, 2021

PAGE 7

The 5Cs must take an active role in water conservation

Sibling rivalry should not define your life MISHAAL IJAZ Growing up with siblings can make you feel as if you’re living in someone else’s shadow, especially if they’re successful. You may feel inclined to follow a career path similar to your sibling’s out of pressure from your parents or even yourself.

Feeling like you have to compete with your siblings is a sad but real experience. You don’t want to be known as the “dumb” sibling, or the one who didn’t work as hard in school. While having some competition with your siblings can push you to achieve more, it can easily become toxic. Competition brings out jealousy, which should have no place in sibling relationships.

In early childhood, sibling rivalry is quite normal. It usually occurs because each child is trying to find their place within the home and family. In this phase, siblings will banter with one another and the parents ideally remain impartial.

While many people believe sibling rivalry disappears after childhood, it can sometimes become worse as siblings grow older. One sibling may become closer to their parents than the others, which can make the other siblings jealous. Parents can play into this dynamic by treating the siblings differently and causing more conflict. Another major reason for sibling rivalry is jealousy of a sibling’s success and opportunities.

It is important to remember that success is temporary. Someone’s job can change in the blink of an eye, and they can lose everything they worked for. Fam-

ily is an everlasting bond — meaning it’s better to take care of your relationship with your sibling than to obsess over how much more successful they are in comparison to you. Nobody wins when siblings are jealous of one another.

You should also remember that everyone is unique, even people you are related to. You most likely won’t have the exact same interests as your siblings.

You will end up on different life paths according to your strengths. Instead of forcing yourself to pursue a career as a doctor like your sibling just to impress your parents, choose something you are passionate about. It will be hard to derive joy from something you forced yourself to do out of competitiveness.

Success is also very subjective. Some people believe having children makes them successful, some believe going to college makes them successful and some believe having a law degree makes them successful.

You may deem your siblings as “more successful” because they’re well-paid investment bankers and you’re an artist, but success comes down to how proud you are of yourself.

When you’re caught up in trying to out-perform your siblings, you can forget to be proud of what they’ve accomplished. Take a step back away from your competitiveness and acknowledge their growth. You have probably witnessed your siblings go through challenges throughout their lives, and as their sibling, you should make

it clear that you’re proud of them. Remember that they have a life outside of yours and have struggled in similar ways that you have. Breaking out of sibling rivalry requires you to recognize their humanity.

Adult sibling rivalry can usually be worked out through discussion. Instead of hiding that you’re jealous of your siblings, try admitting it to them.

Yes, it seems uncomfortable, but it can be a good place to start. You may even find that your sibling is jealous of you, too. If your siblings care about you, they will definitely reassure you that there is nothing to be jealous about.

Sometimes sibling rivalries can become too toxic beyond repair. Once parents begin to take sides, your relationship with your sibling can become too difficult to maintain. If this is the case for you, don’t be afraid to find alternative support structures beyond family. This can be close friends or others in your community.

You don’t need to stay in toxic relationships with people just because you’re blood-related to them.

Even though sibling rivalry is very real, remember to focus on your individual successes and try to be proud of what your sibling achieves. You don’t need to be “better” than your sibling in order to be satisfied with your life.

JULIAN CHAPIN • THE STUDENT LIFE

The 5Cs must improve water conservation amid California’s ongoing drought, argues Willa Frank PO ’25.

WILLA FRANK Finally, a drought emergency was declared on Nov. 9 for the Metropolitan Water District (MWD), which includes Claremont’s local water wholesaler, Three Valleys Municipal Water District. California’s current drought is at an extreme or exceptional level of severity in Los Angeles County, yet there has not been any mass shift in behavior — you may not even know a drought emergency is in effect.

As college students who are surrounded by beautiful landscaping, bubbling fountains and a daily plethora of dining options, the drought can feel far away. However, we are situated in the heart of this crisis, and we need to start acting like it.

Faced with such a crisis, and with data indicating that water stress will only get worse in the coming decades, it is “clear that individual and collective water conservation must become an ingrained habit,” says Char Miller, chair of the Environmental Analysis department at Pomona College.

As students, the main goal of our individual actions should be to affect our most immediate sphere of influence — our colleges. Possible actions include cutting down our shower times or doing fewer loads of laundry, as well as keeping ourselves informed of the water crisis and taking a stance on this issue in order to pressure those with greater power.

In my eyes, no change in behavior has been made as to how the Pomona campus is run, water-wise, since the drought emergency declaration.

If something has changed, there has been no communication about that.

We all see the sprinklers

Mishaal Ijaz SC ’24 is from San Diego, CA. She likes talking to her two older sisters.

CLARE MARTIN • THE STUDENT LIFE

ROB ZINTL & JULIA HAUDENSCHIELD

The chaos and uncertainty of this semester — and our collective achievement to make it nevertheless happen in person — warrants a real break and a pat on the back. This is true for everybody on campus: not only students, but faculty, administrators and maintenance and dining staff. For everyone’s sake, the best thing would be to cancel finals, or at least make them optional.

For all that we did to bring in-person learning back to campus, this semester has been anything but normal. Club operation is restricted, we’ve experienced limited access to the library and Roberts Pavilion, and each week we pray not to receive an email notifying us of a positive test and imminent relocation to quarantine.

Some of our peers did get sick, suffering weeks of disruption to learning. Even the small measures have an isolating effect, such as the plastic screens separating us and the inability to read the facial expressions behind our masks. We no longer have the simple pleasure of ignoring emails from the administration — a luxury often overlooked in the past — because we all know that a serious outbreak will send us home.

The ever-present disruptions and uncertainties exact a significant toll. COVID-19 has had a significant effect on mental health — meta-analysis indicates depression rates have increased sevenfold compared to where they were pre-pandemic, and anxiety rates are elevated as well. Notably, depressive symptoms have persisted more than a year into the pandemic, and data has shown this is especially true for young people. Students in particular have been affected, and are exhibiting depression rates significantly higher than most other groups.

Where are students turning for support? Well, most are relying on friends and family, as one might expect. However, a recent study revealed that only 2.5 percent of students identified their university as a significant source of support during COVID-19. Just for comparison, 3.4 percent of students said they felt supported by the streaming service Netflix.

Students need some kindness and compassion from the school.

It’s well known that academic stress is correlated with anxiety and depression — and a study since the pandemic began showed students

identifying final exams as their greatest source of stress. Moreover, overloading the brain’s working memory system — perhaps by cramming before exams — has been shown to reduce activity in brain regions central to the suppression of negative emotions.

An announcement allowing students to opt out of exams would prevent such negative effects, model a compassionate gesture and serve as a meaningful acknowledgement of the weight that each of us has carried to make an in-person semester possible. Canceling finals would provide a lift to our collective psyche, and we could use it.

Moreover, we deserve it.

I’m pleased but surprised that we’ve made it this far without switching back to online classes, and I doubt I’m alone in that. Cases were spiking when we returned in August, and an outbreak felt inevitable. Yet thanks to outstanding planning and our community effort, that outbreak never materialized. The importance and value of that community effort deserves to be recognized and celebrated.

Colleges across the United States have seen hundreds of thousands of cases this year. In one week before Thanksgiving, the UC Berkeley football team had 44 players test positive. In comparison, here at Pomona College, we’ve had 34 cases total since classes began, including those among faculty and staff. The student test positivity rate has been 0.08 percent, more than 10 times lower than the overall rate in Los Angeles County for the same timeframe.

That’s simply astounding.

From a community health standpoint, this semester has been a resounding success. Our collective achievement in keeping campus safe and allowing classes to proceed in person was an extraordinary feat — one that meaningfully improved the college experience for thousands of our peers.

That achievement is far more important than anything we might accomplish during finals week.

Cancel the exams, lift our spirits and end this strange semester on a happy note.

Rob Zintl PO ’23 is from Brookline, Massachusetts. He is a new transfer student majoring in politics.

Julia Haudenschield SC ’23 is from New York, New York. She is majoring in mathematics and psychology.

Willa Frank PO ’25 is from Cambridge, Massachusetts. She enjoys petting every dog ever on Marston Quad and professing her love for New England to no one in particular.

Mudders, 5C clubs want you

COURTESY: FOX/PXHERE

Mudders should join 5C clubs to reap the benefits of the consortium, argues Serena Mao HM ’25.

SERENA MAO Part of the reason students apply to Harvey Mudd College is because of their access to the 5C consortium — specifically, for example, student clubs. If Mudders feel that a club they want to join in HMC is too small or doesn’t exist, they can search for a 5C club that fills that gap.

Most of the time, they’re able to find a club that does, but with a caveat: Mudders are a nearly nonexistent minority within it.

As a first-year at Mudd, I’m in a similar situation. Scouting out the clubs at the club fair, many 5C clubs intrigued me, whether it was radio, kombucha club, consultancy, artificial intelligence or TSL. The consortium resources had thus come in handy; whatever interest I had that wasn’t represented at Mudd, I could easily find in the general 5Cs. However, upon joining clubs like TSL and Pomona Consulting Group, I quickly discovered that the number of Mudders taking advantage of these resources were negligible. When attending the info sessions for the 5C newspaper, I was the only Mudder in attendance, and even now,

OFF THE RECORD

We should cancel finals

misting in the night, and the excess water that runs profusely down the sidewalks. Sprinklers are a horribly inefficient form of irrigation. In such an arid climate, we should not be irrigating our large and lustrous quad through a method that has a water loss rate of 40 percent. It is frankly irresponsible to allocate so much water to a cosmetic feature of our campus in such dire times. This is no minor, seasonal drought.

This is a climate change-driven event, foreshadowing dangerous drought that demands behavioral change for this year and all the years going forward.

Although many of us distantly understand the water crisis, there must be a greater emphasis on water in our everyday existence — we are living in a high-density, industry-heavy area of the country that is extremely dry and water-poor.

These conflicting factors make our lives in Southern California rather perilous, especially in the years ahead, and it is imperative that we understand this and take measures to adapt.

The current drought crisis pushes us to focus on adaptation in addition to mitigation — we must begin to think ahead as opposed to only retrospectively attempting to fix the problems we encounter in the present. Besides watering the wealth of lawns on this campus a little less, we as students, should start thinking about how the college can go beyond these small steps of cutting back — how we can push ourselves to new heights of water conservation.

With the drought emergency finally declared, students must take action and incorporate the knowledge of the water crisis into their everyday behavior.

finding other Mudders on staff is a rare occurrence — statistically, 3 percent of the staff comes from Mudd. Similarly, at a social event for a 5C consulting group, it was understandably assumed that I was from Pomona College.

Looking around, I couldn’t find a single other consultant from Mudd.

Importantly, I’m not blaming the small Mudd to non-Mudd ratio on clubs; it’s perfectly understandable, considering Mudd is rather small and far more STEM-oriented than any other 5C. Thus, it simply turns out that the non-STEM clubs in the 5Cs naturally have fewer Mudders, making them a clear minority.

To be clear, this isn’t the result of a faulty selection process or the isolating behaviors of 5C club members. In fact, I’ve felt very welcomed when joining 5C clubs, many of which are excited to be joined by new Mudders.

As a result, a big reason why there are so few Mudders in off-campus clubs may simply be due to fear and perceived stigma. In other words, if Mudders know that few of their peers are in 5C clubs, they may be afraid to join because they would be surrounded by unfamiliar people. In their heads, while oth-

Claremont Shades crushed their winter concert Okay, Lavender!

ers are bonding over Pomona or Pitzer College struggles, they think they’ll feel left out — and therefore choose not to join the club in the first place.

However, such fears are often unwarranted. As mentioned before, clubs have been highly welcoming of Mudders in my experience, often seeking them out because they join so rarely. Once Mudd students overcome the mental block and join a 5C club they’re interested in, they’d undoubtedly discover that they’re enjoying themselves. This would kickstart a virtuous cycle, where more Mudders joining definitionally reduces the fear of being alone for other Mudders considering joining the club, thus fixing the Mudd to non-Mudd ratio. 5C STEM clubs on campus like P-ai are already reaping the benefits of this diversity, where members of each college contribute their own unique perspectives that enrich the experiences of all involved.

Ultimately, Mudders shouldn’t let their fears prevent them from pursuing a subject they’re passionate about. Instead, they should courageously join the clubs that spark their interest, knowing that they’d be welcomed in clubs even where the Mudd population is small. On the flip side, 5C clubs should specifically encourage Mudd participation, thus making it clear that their membership is welcome and significant. Whether it’s through increasing advertising on the Mudd campus or asking existing Mudders to recruit friends, there are various ways in which Mudd participation can be boosted, bringing new perspectives to 5C clubs. Once Mudders do join, these clubs should make an effort to be inclusive to all schools, ensuring that everyone is comfortable and feels like they belong.

With these suggestions in mind, 5C clubs can enjoy the perks of a diverse community — and maybe I’ll even have a few more Mudd friends here at TSL! Serena Mao HM ’25 is from Fremont, California. She’s hyped to be writing about TSL in TSL.

Stop throwing Shade at me, Jay. My music taste is not “elevator music core”

Opinions

PAGE 8

December 3, 2021

The not-so-glamorous truth of being an international student at CMC BERTHA TOBIAS The sensation of the American Dream is a compelling one. So much so that the United States is the most popular country in the world for international students.

With the promise of idealistic possibility in hand, international students make dramatic, significant and life-changing moves from their homes to forge new paths on American college campuses. Some schools, however, are better than others at serving international students.

Apparently, Claremont McKenna College is supposed to be one of those schools. According to College Factual, CMC is ranked 92 out of 1232 of Overall Best US Colleges and Universities for International Students. Compared to other small liberal arts colleges, CMC’s international student body population of 17 percent is notable. The deliberate internationalization of US college campuses is a commendable feat. Unfortunately, at CMC, the enthusiasm with which international students are recruited evaporates once real work is required to make sure that international students have the help that they need.

The discontinuation of the International Place, the jointly funded 7C program and resource center for international students, left a gap in international student service delivery. The closure of I-Place has led CMC to adopt a new “independent CMC-based” international student services model. The new CMC-based model saw the absorption of international student services into existing roles, such as the Senior Associate Dean of Students assuming responsibility for the strategic management of CMC programs and services for international students.

Absorptions such as these ignore the reality that international students face significantly different experiences from domestic students. This means that effective programming for internation-

MARIANA DURAN • THE STUDENT LIFE

al students requires intentional, specific work. For instance, by design, career services for international students necessarily need to recognise the nuances of work authorization considerations.

The absorption of international student services into existing, general scopes of work is reflective of the secondary regard with which international students are treated at CMC. As an international student, the general modus operandi is to refrain from asking for too much. The ever-present sense of your experience as being a deviation from the norm accompanies your college experience.

That experience is made even more unpleasant when there is a clear indifference and neglect for your struggles. For instance, on Nov. 18, global news headlines trumpeted a new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, that was identified by scientists in South Africa. In the following

days, there had been news about different countries, including the United States, imposing travel restrictions. There are international students from the countries affected by the variant here at CMC. Days continue to pass and there is no institutional communication to acknowledge the distress currently being faced by international students, let alone work to communicate contingency planning.

More significantly, CMC’s neglect and dismissal of international students is also evident in its unwillingness to seriously explore online learning options for international students who may not be able to return to the United States in the wake of current and/or future travel restrictions.

Consequently, if an international student is unable to return to the United States in the wake of any travel restrictions, they are essentially forced to take a leave of absence. Arguably, this may not have been a problem had

The 7Cs should incorporate sustainability throughout their curricula LUCIÉNNE REYES On Nov. 2, Matiaslan “Aslan” Ceccarelli PZ ’23 sent an email to Pitzer College’s student body asking students to sign a petition from the Claremont Climate Initiative, a newly formed 7C student group. “We are asking the Claremont Colleges to make sustainability a core tenet of all majors so as to help all students and faculty address the urgency of climate change,” Ceccarelli, the leader of the initiative, wrote in the email.

On first reading, I thought they were asking the 7Cs to require each major to include a sustainability course related to the field.

However, the petition, which has gained over 200 student signatures, demands more: the incorporation of sustainability in all classes.

I encourage all 7C community members to sign and support the Claremont Climate Initiative’s petition. The 7Cs must integrate sustainability into all courses as an important part of the schools’ efforts to fight climate change.

Such a concept, which might seem new, has long had international support. 7C students did not pioneer the idea. In 2018, the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom surveyed university students worldwide about their experiences and opinions on sustainability education at their schools. According to their final report, 70 percent of respondents wanted to see “sustainable development actively incorporated and promoted through all courses.”

Per a recent report from the World Meteorological Organization, the average global temperature is currently one degree Celsius hotter than it was in the late 19th century. The report anticipates a 44 percent likelihood that the average annual temperature will temporarily increase to 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels within the next five years.

“After 1.5 [degrees Celsius] there is a point of no return and life on Earth will be continuously

afflicted with suffering, death, and mass extinction,” the petition states.

Education on sustainability is becoming increasingly essential in an accelerating climate crisis.

As organizations fundamental to their students’ development as citizens of society, higher education institutions bear a responsibility not only to exercise sustainability in their everyday operations, but also to equip students through education with the tools they need to contribute towards generating sustainable solutions in the greater world.

One might wonder why a class on sustainability as a general education requirement wouldn’t suffice. This would exclude 7C graduate students, who don’t have general education requirements.

In an interview with TSL, Ceccarelli asserted that excluding the graduate schools from the Initiative’s demand “[would prevent] all of those students from also learning the skillset that they can use to add to solutions for climate change.”

For students in postbaccalaureate programs (such as the premed programs at Scripps College and Keck Graduate Institute), another class in an already intensive schedule could delay program completion. For undergraduates, more general education requirements would restrict options in selecting classes.

“And maybe they wouldn’t understand how sustainability incorporates itself into all the other material that they’re learning. They might be like, ‘Okay, this is cool and everything, but how do I actually apply it to my discipline?’” Ceccarelli said in the interview.

Mandating a sustainability course specifically related to the field of a student’s degree or certificate would certainly mitigate the issue Ceccarelli described. “I do think that having a class that’s solely dedicated to sustainability

BELLA PETTENGILL • THE STUDENT LIFE

would be amazing,” he said.

“But … since sustainability is inherently interdisciplinary, how would it really be talked about in that one class?”

Weaving sustainability throughout the curricula would give students opportunities to learn about and consistently practice sustainability in a broader variety of ways, which they can apply to their careers and personal lives. A single course cannot encapsulate the numerous applications of sustainability in detail; multiple courses over the span of a student’s academic journey can. The latter type of education also embodies the spirit of sustainability as an ongoing effort — not just a one-time affair.

Skeptics may contend that it isn’t feasible to implement the petition’s proposal in disciplines such as the arts, languages, certain social sciences and nonbiological STEM subjects. I don’t know how exactly every class would promote sustainability — that’s for the curriculum board of the 7Cs and the faculty of each academic department to untangle — but I have several ideas.

Math classes can incorporate real-life scenarios involving sustainability in problem sets. Foreign language classes can teach students how to discuss sustainability practices and environmental issues happening in countries where the language is widely spoken.

Music ensembles can perform works inspired by the fight for a more sustainable world, just as the Claremont Concert Choir did in a Nov. 4 performance.

Music history courses can examine how historical practices and the environment influenced the changing construction of musical instruments over time, and how this in turn impacted the environment and musical works of the era.

Psychology classes can cover the psychology of sustainable behavior. These are just some ways sustainability can be integrated.

The environment plays a role, no matter how tangential, in every aspect of our lives.

With an impending climate catastrophe in the years to come, everyone must act against it.

In order for everyone to contribute, solutions to the climate crisis must come from all fields, all areas of society. By infusing sustainability into their curricula, the 7Cs can lead the way in empowering students to collectively create a wide range of sustainable solutions and protect life on Earth.

Luciénne Reyes PZ ’24 is from Los Angeles, California. She credits an interview she conducted with Peter Dien CM ’25 for a past TSL article as having inspired her fall break adventures.

CMC not characterized itself as possessing the capacity to work with students to identify courses that are best suited to recordings or hybrid online learning options. CMC did an incredible job at presenting itself as an institution that has “developed a number of instructional tools and resources to help support online teaching and learning.”

Unfortunately, the school has done a disappointing job at living up to that promise when it really matters.

The insensitivity for international students is reflected in countless consistent and dehumanizing ways. For instance, communication about availability of winter break housing was shared on Nov. 19, less than a month away from the start of winter break. The disregard for the logistical planning required to secure accommodation in a foreign country is evident. Winter break housing will not include any meals, and “24-hour

quiet periods” are in effect until the beginning of the spring semester. Yes, international students are expected to observe 24-hour silence periods with “no overnight guests or parties” as we look on and watch everyone else have a blast during the festive season, reunited with their families.

This is not a call for the special treatment of international students. It’s a request for dignity.

It’s a call for, at the very least, consistency in CMC’s communicated capacity to facilitate an experience for international students, and the actual practice of that capacity. The bottom line? There is a deceitful, insidious self-contradiction between what CMC says they are able to do for international students, and what they actually do.

Currently, international students are being forced to face the difficult decision between traveling to their homes for the break, and facing a potential leave of absence as a consequence. This negligence is present because international students are treated as dispensable. As cases of the new Omicron variant rise across the United States, it is important to observe CMC’s response once domestic students become impacted as well. Does the issue truly stem from a lack of resources, or a lack of willingness to distribute them to those who need them right now?

As it stands, CMC has work to do in regards to international students. An inability to carry out that work sends the clear message that international students are tokens meant to accessorize its campus. Is CMC a brilliant school?

Absolutely. Does that brilliance matter in the grand scheme of things when it’s not equally accessible to all of its students? Probably not.

Guest columnist Bertha Tobias CM ’24 is from Namibia and is majoring in International Relations & Leadership. She loves working out, reading and shopping.

Jasper’s Crossword: Off the Charts

JASPER DAVIDOFF • THE STUDENT LIFE

ACROSS 1. Whispering vid.

5. Interrupting sounds 10. Smooch in San Juan 14. Tazo variety 15. Tried to catch, as bait 16. Word often accompanying “uwu” or “XD” 17. *Tool for after you finish a Diet Coke 19. On the water 20. Host 21. Number of The Claremont Colleges 23. So far 24. Like heaven’s gates 26. *Move toward, as another topic 28. ‘___ death do us part’ 29. Birth control opt.

31. Anish known for the Bean and Vantablack 32. Jamaican genre 33. Lines indicating legato 36. Possesses 37. *Book with lists of words 40. Killer whale 43. One starting middle school 44. Put together 47. Halts 50. End of the alphabet song, to a Brit 51. CGU president Jessup 52. *Major vessels in a city or body 55. One response to “gracias” 57. NBA official 58. Figure praised in salat 60. Counter, as a claim 61. “It was me” 63. Where to find the stars in the starred entries?

65. Snooping 66. Instruct 67. Iowa State city 68. Arthur in tennis 69. Al _____ (pasta term) 70. Like this clue, among the acrosses DOWN 1. Comes to terms with 2. Moore who stars as Miles Morales in Into the Spider-Verse 3. Game with stones or beans 4. Kitchen gadget

5. ___ Dhabi 6. Snake’s warning 7. Merman on Broadway 8. Otis’ love interest on Sex Education 9. Snapchat record 10. Possible tan line source 11. “Don’t get too riled up” 12. Attracted to, old-fashioned-like 13. Ones giving speeches 18. Pickle condiment 22. Secrecy contract, for short 25. ____ Ball (December party) 27. Corp. debuts 30. Kind of bunny or bowl 34. Like 35. Canal that keeps ensnaring cargo ships 37. Use a stun gun on 38. Portland college 39. Counterparts of overs 40. Instrument featured in Legend of Zelda 41. Third tries, creatively 42. Bait with fake photos 44. Auburn’s state 45. Figures out 46. 23andMe offering 48. Time period 49. Isolated 53. Avoid 54. Glossy fabric 56. Himalayan country 59. Bulk 62. Stain red 64. Grain bread

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS

Sports

December 3, 2021

PAGE 9

Stag basketball stages 19-point comeback victory over Linfield behind Askew and Angle ALEX CHUN Following a double-digit loss against Whitworth in their previous game, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s basketball team again found themselves trailing big towards the end of the first half versus Linfield.

While the Stags hardly remained afloat with a stagnant offense, the Wildcats had ballooned their lead to 19 points with three minutes remaining.

But a 11-0 spark from the Stags in the dying minutes of the first half instantly shifted the momentum of the game, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to single digits. Riding this trend, CMS outscored Linfield by 15 points in the second half to complete the comeback, winning 79-72.

Already off to a career year, veteran forward TJ Askew CM ’22 scored a career-high 23 points and also boasted an impressive all-around game, including seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Another standout performance came from guard Josh Angle CM ’23, scoring 17 of his 21 overall points in the second half to lead the comeback.

The match began with a tight defensive battle, with both teams going on mini scoring runs and earning multiple defensive stops.

Featuring three lead changes and ties within the opening seven minutes of the period, CMS and Linfield were knotted at 12 apiece after forward Kiran Kruse CM ’23 swiped two consecutive steals off Wildcat players.

Linfield began to separate from CMS by slashing to the rim, capitalizing on numerous layup scoring opportunities around the paint.

Meanwhile, the Stags went on a cold offensive streak, missing seven consecutive field goal attempts from all over the court.

Growing a 12-point lead with six minutes remaining in the quarter, the Wildcats continued their dominant offensive stretch, while the Stags couldn’t buy a bucket. Following three three-pointers from Lin-

field perimeter players and trivial answers from the CMS offense, the Stags dug themselves into a 19-point hole and surrendered a 26-7 scoring run overall.

But immediately after this scoring drought, the Stags quickly bounced back in resilient fashion.

Capitalizing on careless turnovers and numerous field goal attempt misses from Linfield, CMS began utilizing fast break opportunities and crashed the boards to earn multiple scores close to the rim, rapidly cutting the deficit to eight points to end the first half.

The start of the final 20 minutes served similar to the game’s begin-

XC: Athenas take second place Continued from page 1 championships on Saturday, the CMS women finished neck-andneck with defending champions Johns Hopkins, who took home the national title with 130 points to the Athenas’ 132, both clear ahead of third place SUNY Geneseo (168).

With CMS leading 66-84

ABBEY LIAO • THE STUDENT LIFE

Matt Meredith CM ‘25 makes his way past defenders during a game against La Verne on Dec. 1.

through four runners, the razor-thin result came down to each team’s fifth placer.

Meredith Bloss HM ’23 led the runner-up Athenas with a 21:17.4 13th-place finish in the women’s 6K, joined by Natalie Bitetti CM ’24 in 16th and Riley Harmon SC ’22 in 19th.

Pomona-Pitzer’s women finished in 10th with 364 points.

Top: The Pomona-Pitzer men’s cross country team celebrates Saturday morning after taking home the NCAA Division III championship in Louisville, Kentucky. (Courtesy: Pomona-Pitzer Athletic Communications) Bottom: Members of the CMS women’s cross country team celebrate with their national runner-up trophy. (TSL screenshot/NCAA livestream)

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ning, with both teams exchanging baskets and defensive boards.

CMS failed to cut into the deficit within the early stretches of the second half, only being able to get as close as six points.

After trading blow for blow, Angle began heating up from the floor and connected on three consecutive three-pointers on backto-back possessions. Capitalizing on three careless turnovers from Linfield, the Stags finally grabbed their first lead of the game since the opening two minutes.

Following this scoring surge, CMS continued to maintain its slim lead until the midway point

of the second half, when they again began trading baskets in a back-and-forth affair with Linfield.

The Stags finally broke away from the Wildcats after rookie forward Matt Meredith CM ’25 staged a 5-0 scoring run of his own, building a seven-point CMS lead.

Linfield instantly responded on the offensive end and remained within striking distance of CMS, refusing to let the lead grow more than five points. Despite three consecutive two-point baskets from Angle that grew the Stags’ lead to nine, the Wildcats bounced back with two three-pointers of their own to cut the lead back to three.

After the series of back-and-forth runs, a Linfield defender made a costly error by fouling Askew off of a three-point attempt. Knocking all three of his free throws down with total control, the veteran forward stopped the Wildcats’ momentum and iced the game.

In Wednesday’s SCIAC opener, CMS shut down La Verne for a standout 81-58 win.

With an impressive 4-1 start to their year, the Stags will next participate in a Sixth Street Rivalry double header on Saturday, facing the Pomona-Pitzer men at 5 p.m. before the Athenas and Sagehens battle at 7 p.m.

West Region Athlete of the Year Stevie Steinberg HM ’22 reminisces on stellar cross-country career MICHELE TANG Following his standout first place finish at the NCAA West Regional Championships, Stevie Steinberg HM ’22 earned U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) West Region Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year honors, contributing to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ second place team finish for the meet.

“Athlete of the Year was really nice; I felt great and I was just happy to be contributing to the team,” Steinberg said. “It was really cool to get some recognition and actually win my first collegiate cross-country race in this manner.”

Having heard about the award in the past, the cross-country star said earning this award was memorable, having admired the title throughout his collegiate career.

“I remember in past years, during the Nationals banquet, I’d get to see all the faces of the people who won the West region, East region, etc.,” he said. “And at the time, I thought: ‘Wow, that was so cool; these are the best of each region.’ Although I don’t consider myself the fastest person in the region, I feel blessed to earn this honor for having the best regional.”

Steinberg finished in 22nd place at Division III championships last month, the Stags’ second-best finisher behind thirdplace Henry Pick HM ’23.

Before earning the accolade, Steinberg stumbled across cross-country as a freshman in high school. As a new transfer at the time, he missed out on the opportunity to play soccer, his primary sport.

“I had to find a sport and pretty much the only one I could join was cross-country,” Steinberg said. “My buddy, fortunately, was in it, so I joined it and thought I would return to soccer after a year. But I had a good time and was better at it compared to

HANNAH WEAVER • THE STUDENT LIFE

Stevie Steinberg HM ‘22 was named West Region Athlete of the Year after coming in first during the regional championships.

soccer, so it basically stuck [with me].”

While applying to colleges, collegiate running was not the first thing that came to Steinberg’s mind. He originally was thinking of engaging in the sport recreationally, until the prospective student process and building memorable bonds with his teammates gave him “a good reason to stick with it.”

Including outside social relationships, the sport also gave him benefits on a more internal, personal level. “[Running] occupied an important part of my physical well-being and gave me a nice way to organize and structure my day,” Steinberg said.

Despite finding early success with acclimating himself to the program, Steinberg ran into struggles attempting to navigate the life of a student-athlete.

“I had [big] issues adjusting to the pace of college life, being away from home at first,” he said. “I wasn’t super comfortable with being as involved compared to when I ran; I felt very overwhelmed.”

The obstacles formed by adjusting to a new college social life also disrupted his athletic performances.

“I thought at times about quitting the program or stepping back

and that was definitely exacerbated when I was injured, when I maybe performed worse than I expected,” the runner said.

But the sense of community he built over the years within his teammates revitalized his collegiate career.

“I looked back at the people who I was running with [and] realized that the sport is much bigger than just times on a scoreboard,” Steinberg said. “It felt a lot more worth it once I did that.”

Moving forward, Steinberg is anticipating an outstanding track and field season in the spring, signifying the last leg of his collegiate running career.

Some of his personal goals are to set records in the 5k and 10k events. He also hopes to get another All-American award under his belt, although he believes “it’s a little more challenging” compared to cross-country.

Looking back on his final collegiate cross-country experiences, Steinberg said he’s simply grateful to be a part of a historic program.

“There have been a lot of really talented people who’ve come through the program, [many] who are really important in my life,” he said. “Being able to contribute and be the frontrunner for one of the fastest teams in program history is really validating.”

THE STUDENT LIFE

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Sports

PAGE 10

December 3, 2021

‘One core team’: CMS swim and dive is coming together Athenas and Stags adjust to new season with a focus on teambuilding

ABBEY LIAO • THE STUDENT LIFE

Left: Athenas swim a breaststroke event during a meet against CalTech.

Right: A Stag is pictured competing in the butterfly event during a meet against CalTech.

ANNE FRIEDMAN Ranked among the top fifteen Division III programs in the nation, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps swim and dive team is off to a stellar 3-0 winning streak against SCIAC opponents and 3-1 overall, with their only loss coming from Division I UC San Diego in a preseason meet.

“We’ve had three [conference] meets so far and we’ve shown improvement each time out,” head coach Charlie Griffiths said in an email. “It is best to never take an opportunity for granted and I think that this year’s squad is extra appreciative of the chance to train and compete as a team.”

Multiple Stags and Athenas have already earned conference honors for their impressive performances. For the women, diver Emma Ng Pack CM ’24 won SCIAC Diver of the Week following all three winning meets.

On the Stag side, Jack Griffith CM ’25 was awarded Diver of the Week honors after the UCSD meet, while Marco Conati HM ’22 won back-to-back Swimmer of the Week honors for his outstanding swims against CalTech and Chapman.

In its tough opening meet, CMS came out with impressive showings against a D1 program despite the 164-123 defeat. Athena swimmer Leila El Masri CM ’22 said that rather than aiming for a victory, CMS used the match as “a check-in” for the team at large.

“We [went] there to swim and get our times in,” she said. “It was still a competition, but they definitely have a really strong lineup and we’re [a] D3 school.”

The early meet served as a testament to what “the team could do at this point in the season,” Natalia Orbach-Mandel HM ’22 said. “[The meet] had lower stakes and it was more an opportunity to push ourselves and see what we could do against a great team,” she added. “I think [our head coach] was really excited because it’s always fun to see [us] getting into tight races with DI swimmers. It’s always exciting when it’s, like, a close finish to the wall and we end up on top.”

Meanwhile, some Stags used the preseason meet to work back up to collegiate swimming and get used to the pool following

two years of absence due to the pandemic.

“I haven’t been swimming as seriously as I am right now compared to the past,” Nick Tan HM ’22 said. “So, a lot of [this] early season was getting back in shape, learning how to approach races; at times, I realized that I forgot some of my race strategies.”

Others were simply eager to get back and feel the excitement of a collegiate meet.

“I missed cheering on deck the most while we were apart,” Athena Ava Sealander SC ’22 said in an email. “I was over the moon with joy while seeing my teammates swim.”

While reacclimating to in-person meets and activities, CMS has strongly emphasized building one unified team striving to achieve the same goals.

“I think it’s really easy for us to kind of break down [our team] into four different barriers: the men’s swim team, the men’s dive team, women’s dive team, the women’s swim team,” Luke Lenhart CM ’22 said. “We focus on being one core team and we’ve done a really exceptional job [of maintaining that] thus far.”

The Stags and Athenas have been focusing on building solidarity this season.

“At the end of practices or at the end of meets, we’ll shoutout people for being good lanemates, having a fast split, or even showing off a good technical skill,” Orbach-Mandel said.

“We’re very good about doing the small things that benefit and motivate us.”

Including these smaller praises, CMS is aiming to foster a more positive, uplifting practice environment.

“We need to do a better job of trying to reinforce good habits and be more supportive at practices,” El Masri said. “Saying ‘How can I help you go faster?’ rather than ‘You can go faster’ might help people achieve their goals and be better — compared to enforcing a positive mentality on others.”

Despite these improvements in the pool, the team is still working on building and maintaining community on dry land.

“Without cross-campus dining, it’s a huge strain to get people from different class years and campuses together,” Sealander said. “Eating a huge meal

at the dining hall after a tough practice is the best way to get to know your teammates, so I hope we can continue that tradition next semester.”

On the bright side, loosened pandemic restrictions related to winter training camps have potentially opened opportunities for the team to build strong bonds.

Looking ahead to its next competition, CMS will face Pomona-Pitzer in a two-day rivalry meet today and tomorrow.

“I think the rivalry this year is shaping up to be the most hyped up it’s been in history,” El Masri said. “With so many people wanting to watch, it’ll be insane and everyone will go faster than they normally do.”

Ultimately, team members say they’re proud to be a part of the program regardless of the results of upcoming meets and the rest of this year.

“No matter what has happened in the past year and a half, and no matter what the future holds, being our best as students, citizens and swimmers is a win,” Sealander said.

CMS takes on P-P at home on Friday, Dec. 3 and Saturday, Dec. 4.

Sports Calendar P-P

CMS

Friday, Dec. 3

Friday, Dec. 3

Men’s & Women’s

Men’s & Women’s Swimming

Swimming & Diving

and Diving

vs. CMS

vs. P-P

Saturday, Dec. 4

Saturday, Dec. 4

Men’s & Women’s

Men’s & Women’s Swimming

Swimming & Diving

and Diving

vs. CMS

vs. P-P

Men’s Water Polo

Men’s Water Polo

vs. MIT

vs. Johns Hopkins

USA Water Polo Division III

@ P-P

National Semifinal

USA Water Polo Division III Semifinals

Men’s & Women’s Basketball

Men’s & Women’s Basketball

@ CMS

vs. P-P

Sunday, Dec. 5

Sunday, Dec. 5

Men’s Water Polo

Men’s Water Polo

vs. TBA (if P-P advances)

vs. TBA (if CMS advances)

Wednesday, Dec. 8

Wednesday, Dec. 8

Women’s Basketball

Women’s Basketball

vs. Chapman

@ La Verne

Thursday, Dec. 9

Friday, Dec. 10

Men’s Basketball

Men’s Basketball vs. California Miramar

vs. Bethesda University @ Roberts Pavilion

Sunday, Dec. 12 Men’s Basketball vs. UC Santa Cruz