VOL. CXXXIII NO. 11
FRIDAY, FebRuARY 4, 2022
CLAREMONT, CA
Pitzer president to retire ANUSHE ENGINEER
strewn across the Mounds just opposite McConnell Dining Hall. Cacti, a defining feature of Pitzer’s campus, were especially impacted. Many plants were damaged and some completely knocked down. “They’re kind of supporting us, like relatives in a way. And just seeing them go, it’s as if you’re losing someone. So it’s not only part of your landscape, but at least for some like myself, it’s feeling as if you lost them when you saw them toppled over the next morning,” said Diego Tamayo PZ ’25, who felt a serious loss when significant trees at Pitzer were toppled. “I think that’s why they mattered, it’s because they are part of an extension of who we are here.” Harsh damage also befell Scripps College’s greenery. In total, eight trees were toppled over, along with serious damage to the diverse foliage dotting Scripps’ landscape. Cleanup efforts at Scripps began
Pitzer College President Melvin Oliver will retire from his post at the end of the 2021-2022 academic year, he announced in an email to the Pitzer community Thursday. He served as the school’s sixth president, beginning his tenure July 1, 2016. In his 45-year career in higher education and philanthropy, Oliver has been a teacher, scholar, administrator and leader. Although his decision to retire was received with “considerable regret” by Pitzer’s trustees, Board Chair Donald P. Gould said in a follow-up email, his contributions to Pitzer were highly appreciated. “President Oliver has calmly and skillfully navigated the College through a period of unprecedented challenges during his tenure,” Gould said Thursday. “He has done so while staying true to the College’s core values and pushing Pitzer forward in its educational mission.” The board of trustees will soon begin its search for a seventh president, slated to take office by the beginning of the 2023-2024 academic year. The presidential search committee, which has yet to be formed, will be chaired by trustee Tom Brock PZ ’83, the current chair of the board’s Academic Affairs Committee, Gould said. An interim president will be selected in the coming weeks and will take office July 1, 2022. As his time at Pitzer draws to an end, Oliver said he hopes to help resolve the college’s challenges with Title IX procedures, oversee construction progress on the new Scripps Pitzer Science Center and move forward with the college’s diversity, equity, inclusion and justice initiatives. He expressed his gratitude at the relationships he and his
See WIND on page 2
See PRES on page 3
Left: A large fallen tree flanks Carnegie Hall at the corner of Fourth St. and N. College Ave. (Courtesy: Daniel Richards) Top right: Recovery is underway at the Claremont Colleges and surrounding communities as clean up efforts commence. (Florence Pun • The Student Life) Bottom right: Workers clean up a large tree which fell on Pomona’s Walker Beach, damaging the Clark I residence hall. (Courtesy: Evan Johnson)
In storm’s aftermath, growing back Claremont and 7C communities focus on recovery in the wake of January’s damage ELISA MEMBRENO & AVA FRANCIS-HALL The effects of the Jan. 21 Santa Ana windstorm continue to reverberate as cleanup efforts carry on across the 7Cs, while the loss of beloved trees has left students, faculty and staff questioning next steps. The windstorm struck on a Friday night, causing widespread power outages and leaving a large number of uprooted trees in its wake. Beyond the campuses, the severe winds damaged several homes in Claremont and blocked roads due to the fallen obstructive debris. The last time a windstorm of relative size hit Claremont was in the late 1990s, Ron Nemo recalled. Nemo, Pomona College’s manager
of grounds and landscaping, has worked on Pomona’s grounds for 25 years. “We lost about 25 trees back then, so this isn’t my first rodeo,” Nemo said. “But what we do is we clean up, take care of the land and get everything as safe as possible.” While the Claremont Colleges are certainly not strangers to strong winds, the intensity of this storm’s damage was unprecedented. “I’ve been asking a lot of folks who’ve been living here for 50 years or so, and they’ve all said that this is not something they recognize,” said Char Miller, Pomona’s W.M. Keck professor of environmental analysis. “Trees fall all the time, but not this kind of massive blast.” Miller’s conclusion is supported by figures from the aftermath of the storm. At least 300 or more trees were downed in the greater area of Claremont, according to Bevin Handel, public information officer for the city of Claremont. One fallen eucalyptus tree on College Avenue was planted more
Pomona students in COVID isolation say they’re struggling to get what they need SIENA SWIFT Testing positive for COVID-19 is an unwelcome surprise. But when some Pomona College students got their lab results over the last two weeks, they didn’t expect the news to get even worse from there. Still, Pomona students in isolation tell TSL the experience has often left them feeling isolated in more ways than one. From surprise roommates in rooms designated for one to a lack of basic cleaning supplies and repeated disconnects on when and how students could leave or test out, the experience is frustrating students who say the college should have been able to see these issues coming. In a Jan. 21 email to the Pomona community, President G. Gabrielle Starr said the school’s positivity rate was “far lower than our medical experts projected.” The final rate for the week of Jan. 16 was 2.95 percent, a total of 44 student positives, according to college data. Only a third of available isolation housing was being occupied, Starr said. But students were still
complaining of cramped housing conditions and general disarray. Although the email states that isolation housing is “clustered on campus,” some students were sent to isolate on Jan. 21 at 1200 N. College Avenue, referred to as “the Dean’s house,” which is not on Pomona’s campus map. “I feel incredulous that [the one third number] is accurate because a lot of us are being put in spaces that should only be for one person but have three beds in them,” said Daphne Chapline PO ’23, who was initially assigned to a triple in the Dean’s house for isolation. “And I don’t think that college admin were really fully prepared if they had to move some of us totally off-campus.” In an email to TSL, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Tracy Arwari said COVID-positive students are “housed in a variety of College-owned spaces, including Oldenborg, campus houses and Oasis apartments. Having various locations allows
See COVID on page 3
than a hundred years ago when the city was established in 1887. Although cleanup efforts are still underway, it will take weeks to fully clear all the debris and larger obstructions from campus and around Claremont. Repairing damaged infrastructure, such as sidewalks, will take even longer. In some cases, cranes have been called in to lift the larger trees. Miller attributed the high level of destruction to several factors, including the proximity of trees to one another as well as the effects of drought on the soil and rootbeds. “Soil starts to shrink in droughts and holds heat longer,” Miller said, “which means that for anything that’s rooted, it loses its strength.” Pomona’s campus was most impacted by the storm owing to the higher number of large trees. Many native oak trees were toppled over, including several along Stover Walk, the loss of which has drastically altered the appearance of the once-lush canopy. The most noticeable damage at Pitzer College was a large tree
7Cs earn court victory in property dispute with Claremont School of Theology AMARA MIR & MARIANA DURAN In the latest development in a protracted legal battle between the Claremont Colleges and the Claremont School of Theology, the Superior Court of California ruled in favor of the consortium’s legal right to repurchase the land owned by CST. Per the Jan. 4 ruling, the graduate school is now prohibited from leasing or selling the land to third parties. According to a statement from The Claremont Colleges Services spokesperson Laura Muna-Landa, TCCS envisions using the property to build additional student housing to address increased enrollment at the colleges, as well as office and classroom spaces for aging facilities. When CST bought the land from the Claremont Colleges, the two parties signed a land deed which agreed that the
HuXLeYANN HueFNeR • THe STuDeNT LIFe
In the latest development of the ongoing legal battle between the Claremont Colleges and the Claremont School of Theology, the Superior Court of California ruled in favor of the Claremont Colleges.
consortium would have the right of first offer if CST ever decided to sell the property. It also agreed that the Claremont Colleges would repurchase the land at a price calculated through an established formula. While in its possession, CST was required to use the land only for educational purposes. In 2016, after CST expressed interest in selling part of the property to address financial struggles, the Claremont Colleges offered to repurchase a
portion of the property at $14 million. According to Muna-Landa, this price was at “a fair market value [and] substantially more than the formula price [of $4 million].” However, CST said it had its land appraised for around $40 million and rejected the price offered by the Claremont Colleges. Instead, CST attempted to sell 10.5 acres of its 16.4-acre campus to a commercial developer for $25
See CST on page 3
SAMSON ZHANG • THe STuDeNT LIFe
ARTS & CULTURE Savoring a triumphant lemon after crab-cracking a juicy piece of Maryland crab meat has fruitful parallels to the beginning of a new 5C semester, writes food columnist Emily Kim PO ‘25. Read more on page 4.
The student newspaper of the Claremont Colleges since 1889
OPINIONS
SPORTS
Pomona College and Student Health Services must reassess their COVID-19 testing guidelines address discrepancies in instructions given to students, argues Annika Reff PO ‘25. Read more on page 7.
After posting an impressive 7-1 record in their past eight games, the Sagehens are now second in SCIAC conference play with a record of 7-2 and have improved their overall record 12-4 entering into the final month of the regular season. Read more on page 9.
INDEX: News 1 | Arts & Culture 4 | Opinions 7 | Sports 9