Vol. CXXXIV No. 4

Mudd dorm scavenger hunt leads to $5,000 in damages

From flirting with grand theft auto to holding chickens captive, Harvey Mudd College’s annual Atwood Dorm Scavenger Hunt is sure to bring the house down — and maybe Pitzer College’s banner with it. This year’s Sept. 13 endeavor also left Mudders with a damage fee of $5,000 and a side of community service to pay back Pitzer.

The scavenger hunt commenced at 10 p.m. and lasted until midnight, according to Atwood Dorm proctor Albany Blackburn HM ’23. Scav enger hunt tasks included taking a shot with one or more of the dorm presidents, relocating one’s room mate’s stuff to dorm storage and temporarily stealing a chicken from the Pitzer chicken coop.

“We split up initially. Some of my teammates went to a tattoo parlor so they could get their ears pierced, while the rest of us went around drinking water from foun tains, because we wanted to do it before anyone else got to the foun tains,” Blackburn said.

Things took a more serious turn when a few Atwood residents attempted to steal a banner outside of Pitzer’s McConnell Dining Hall. The metal bolts that held the banner in place caused it to rip when a few Atwood residents tried to get ahold of the banner, requiring Pitzer to completely replace it, according to Atwood Dorm President Lucas Ewing HM ’23.

“Pitzer said it was about $5,000 in damages,” Ewing said. “Atwood has to do community service to Pitzer to repay those damages.”

To Toby Frank HM ’23, the dam ages caused during the scavenger hunt aren’t representative of how most Atwood residents behaved during the night.

“Things escalated when individ ual people completed a challenge, but not in the spirit of how that challenge was supposed to be com pleted,” Frank said.

Stealing a banner was part of the scavenger hunt, according to Frank, but most banners across the 5Cs are considerably easier to steal than McConnell’s.

Overall, Frank feels that the presidents of the Atwood Dorm do a good job of keeping risky activities under control.

Among the items on the scav enger hunt list was temporarily stealing the Pitzer chickens, and Frank said there were protocols in place to make sure the animals were safe through the night.

“The things on the Scavenger Hunt that are more serious tend to be heavily regulated,” Frank said. “This year, no one was allowed to go to the chicken coop until a specific time, and then people took the chickens in a way that was very careful and considerate of not harming them.”

Even with the regulations, some Mudders were close to committing grand theft auto on top of potential property theft.

When one group was caught at tempting to move a golf cart owned by Campus Security across Clare mont McKenna College’s campus, most of the younger participants fled the scene — protected by secu rity’s “no-chase” policy, according to Ewing.

“One of the craziest things that happened was people attempting to push a Camp Sec golf cart. I was walking by when I saw a bunch of

A ‘quantum leap into the future’

CMC breaks ground on new science center

Pomona launches inclusivity institute

RYA JETHA

As of Aug. 31, Pomona College is now home to the Institute for Inclusive Excellence, a hub that centers around fostering inclusive environments on campus.

The institute grew out of a fac ulty and staff working group that began in 2019 “to discuss institu tional barriers toward inclusive excellence at the college,” accord ing to program lead Jane Liu, an associate professor of chemistry at Pomona.

Liu said that working group conversations revealed that fac ulty have already been practicing inclusive pedagogy and that their work needed to be shared on a broad scale and adopted across the college.

“We needed a mechanism to de-silo DEI work and identify sustainable practices that best allow equitable flourishing for all students,” Liu said in an email to TSL.

The term “inclusive excellence” is increasingly used by institutions as they move toward equity and inclusivity as their primary focus, according to Travis Brown, the director of the newly-launched institute.

As its first step toward dou bling its campus, Claremont McKenna College hosted a groundbreaking event for the Robert Day Sciences Center on Sept. 30. Slated to open in fall 2024, the new building will replace a baseball field at the southwest corner of East 9th Street and Claremont Boulevard.

The building cements CMC’s exit from the Keck Science De partment — previously a joint effort between Claremont McK enna College, Pitzer College and Scripps College — launching the Kravis Department for Integrat ed Sciences, which CMC will run.

The Robert Day Sciences Cen

ter is just one part of CMC’s plan to double its campus footprint by way of the Roberts Campus east of Mills Avenue. The expansion was made possible by a sizable donation of $140 million from CMC Board of Trustees member George Roberts CM ’66. Plans for the campus include a consolida tion of athletic fields into a single sports bowl, along with a pedes trian bridge across Claremont Boulevard and additional student living spaces.

The groundbreaking event was held in the parking lot east of the soon-to-be-demolished Bauer Center. During the celebration, two keynote speakers took the stage, including CMC President Hiram Chodosh and architect Bjarke Ingels of the Bjarke Ingels

Group, the firm that was con tracted to design both Roberts Campus and the Robert Day Sciences Center. The event was part of ImpactCMC, a weekend of programs at the college bring ing together alumni, faculty, staff and students.

Ingels is the founding partner of Bjarke Ingels Group, whose work has been awarded for its innovative designs across Eu rope, Asia and North America. Ingels has been named an hon orary fellow of the American Institute of Architects, selected as The Wall Street Journal’s 2011 Architectural Innovator of the Year and appointed Knight of the French Ordre Arts et Lettres,

See CMC on page 3

Scripps students struggle to acquire acommodations

MAEVE SANFORD-KELLY

Several Scripps College stu dents report that requests for assis tance with academic accessibility accommodations have not been met since the summer, forcing them to advocate for themselves independently.

Some students requesting help with accommodations have sent multiple emails to Academic Re sources and Services (ARS) staff, failing to receive any response after weeks or months of waiting.

“It’s been pretty bad,” Aidan Trulove SC ’24 said. “So far, I ha ven’t been able to get a response from anyone in the ARS at Scripps. I’ve sent at least three emails and just [got] nothing.”

Trulove has sent emails as far back as August but has yet to receive a response. Between her

job, five classes and main role in a theater production, Trulove said that going to the office in person is not feasible, so she relies on communi cating with ARS via email.

For many students, their pri mary contact in ARS has been Bianca Vinci, assistant director

See SCRIPPS on page 2

“‘Diversity’ connotes numbers of different kinds of people, while equity and inclusion refers to how the various individuals and groups experience the campus and engage with the community,” Brown told TSL via email. “We know not everyone — faculty and staff as well as students — feel like Pomona is for them. Inclusive Excellence is our new initiative to get at the core of what it means to be valued and included, so that all of us can do our best work and flourish.”

The institute will focus on host ing workshops, reading groups and faculty learning to promote

Inclusive excellence is our new initiative to get at the core of what it means to be valued and included, so that all of us can do our best work and flourish.

Travis Brown

inclusive teaching and mentoring at the college.

During spring 2022, the insti tute also piloted a cohort to build community and discuss inclusive pedagogy with new Pomona faculty. According to Brown, the pilot program was successful, and a new cohort will run through the academic year.

“There’s a lot of great work being done across the campuses regarding equity and inclusion, so we want to support that, as well as begin to identify gaps that the in stitute can address,” Brown said.

His long-term goal for the institute is to work directly with students and Student Affairs on how to foster a lasting sense of identity at Pomona. In the next five to 10 years, Brown hopes that the institute will have a significant impact on reducing the “inclusion gap” currently on campus.

“Pomona is clearly a leader in terms of diversity, and we have the ability to continue that success into the fields of equity and inclu sion,” Brown said.

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MAXINE DAVEY & JOHN PAUL FERRANTINO

top: Students gather for a photo opportunity during the groundbreaking ceremony. bottom Left: Robert Day ’65 joined members of the cMc community for a photo opportunity. bottom

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those present at the event.

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StUDeNt LIFe

Scripps students who require academic accommodations are forced to find their own means as ARS staff fail to respond to their requests.

Pomona’s

Ultimate Meal Plan prompts opposite reaction, one year in

Pomona College’s decision to implement a compulsory Ultimate Meal Plan for all students living on campus last year has received mixed responses from students, including a petition this semester calling for the administration to make the meal plan optional.

The adoption of the Ultimate Meal Plan was announced April 21, 2021, in an email to Pomona College students from Dean of Campus Life Josh Eisenberg. Citing a need to lower density during peak times due to COVID-19 and provide students with more dining choice flexibility, the plan was implemented beginning in fall 2021 when students returned to campus from the pandemic.

“At the end of the last school year, we received positive feedback from many students who appreciated not having to worry about the availabil ity of food despite their socio-eco nomic status, the opportunity to get a meal or snack whenever they wanted it, and that they could use the dining halls as a study/hang out space,”

Avis E. Hinkson, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, told TSL in an email.

Pomona is the only 5C that re quires students living on campus to

have an unlimited meal plan, which costs $4,106 per semester. Other colleges offer weekly swipe-based dining plans, with the standard 16-meal plan ranging from $4,086 to $4,534 across the other 4Cs.

Arranged by Seohyeon Lee PO ’25, the petition calls on the admin istration to create lower meal plan options and make the unlimited plan optional. The petition lists challenges faced by students with dietary restrictions, such as unla beled foods and limited allergy-free options.

“Bottom line, it is unreasonable to force students with dietary restrictions to pay the full price of the Ultimate Meal Plan despite inaccessible and limited options,” the petition states. “Students have the right to address their dietary needs in their own terms.”

Students with allergies are limited to an allergen “friendly” station at Frank Dining Hall during its hours of operation from Monday to Thursday. There is no adver tised allergen “friendly” station at Frary, which operates all days of the week.

Cross-contamination and un labeled foods also provide obsta cles for students such as Jemma Stollberg PO ’26, who is allergic to egg-based foods.

MUDD: Atwood residents say scavenger hunt builds community

“It is almost impossible for me to do cross-campus dining because there is a very bad allergy labeling system,” Stollberg said. “It tells me what is vegan and gluten-free, but not what has eggs in it … I put up with all of that every single day just to have lunch.”

Students without allergy issues who live in Pomona’s Oasis KGI Commons housing in the Clare mont Village said the meal plan is inaccessible and poses financial challenges.

Gaby Poplawski PO ’25 has turned to cooking their own meals while trying to recover the cost of the meal plan.

“I’ve been trying to apply for things like the CalFresh program so I can balance the costs,” Poplawski said. “When I heard we had to all be unlimited, I was pretty sad about that. It felt like double pay and felt like wasting. Especially given the fact that right now I’m paying for college on my own and trying to just figure that out.”

Similarly, Stollberg said that paying for the meal plan diverts money away from her spending toward allergy-friendly groceries.

“It is hard to justify spending more money on food,” Stollberg said. “There is an incentive to only eat at the dining hall.”

The college said that the meal plan was conceptualized, among other reasons, to create communi ty. But students who live in Oasis and have been on the unlimited meal plan for at least a year said they struggle to understand this justification.

“We’re [in Oasis], kind of there on our own,” Poplawski said. “We don’t need to also have the unlim ited meal plan as a way to build [community] here. I think we’re all, at Pomona, pretty enthusiastic about the community with each other because that’s our culture.”

Oasis residents are required to have the Ultimate Meal Plan be cause it is technically “on-campus” housing. However, off-campus stu dents have an option for a 10-meal plan. This requirement, Hinkson added, allows them to engage with the community while also being able to eat at home.

Some Pomona students said they want a return to the original swipe-based meal plan while keeping the unlimited plan as an option. In a series of seven street interviews, all the students said they would consider other options besides the ultimate plan if they were given the choice.

“I understand the intention behind it,” Emily Zhu PO ’26 said.

“But I feel like there should be more options for different people because everyone has different habits. “

Some students appreciate the convenience that the Ultimate Meal Plan affords, but recognize that the plan doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.

“I don’t leave campus very often, so I think the majority of my meals still come from the dining hall,” Mitchell Keenan PO ’25 said. “But I get that other people are probably different.”

Hinkson encouraged students with dietary constraints to meet with Nutrition Systems Manager Liz Ryan or other members of the dining staff to identify how their needs can be best addressed. The Pomona ad ministration is open to student input in response to alternative options in the future of dining meal plans, Hinkson said.

“Having had various meal plans with different configurations of meals per week in the past, as al ways we welcome your input as we continue to fine tune our meal plan,” Hinkson said. “The College remains committed to addressing food inse curity, and the ultimate meal plan has met that goal.”

Seohyeon Lee PO ’25 is a graphic artist for TSL.

SCRIPPS: ‘high volume’ and slow responses for accomodations

of student accessibility services; however, she has been out of the office since at least August.

Emails sent to ARS are greet ed with an auto-reply saying, “due to high volume of contact and unforeseen circumstances, please allow 72 hours to receive a response from our office.”

“As a result of staff transitions, ARS has been short-staffed and may not have been able to respond to inquiries within our preferred window,” Danny Hernandez, assistant dean for academic re sources and accessibility services, said in a statement to TSL.

Some students have taken their accommodations into their own hands, working directly with their professors to meet their academic needs.

people running away from the golf cart,” Blackburn said.

Seniors stayed behind and were asked to give their student ID num bers and names, but there was no follow-up on the situation, according to Blackburn and Ewing.

TSL reached out to Associate Dean of Students Christopher Sundberg about the college’s response to the damages, but he declined to com ment due to the ongoing investiga tion of students.

Despite guidelines laid out by dorm presidents to keep the scaven ger hunt lighthearted each year, prop erty damage is not entirely new for the Atwood Dorm Scavenger Hunt — and neither is stolen property.

“[Several years ago] Atwood stu dents stole a sculpture from Scripps that had a $100,000 commission, and Harvey Mudd had to pay for some one to reinstall the statue,” Frank added. “Scripps said that next time this happens, [they’re] going to press charges.”

Mudd still allows the yearly scav enger hunts to take place though, which Ewing attributes to the re lationship between students and Mudd’s honor board.

Ewing said that because most stu dents self-report to the Mudd honor board after committing violations

during the night, Atwood Dorm has managed to maintain a strong relationship with both the honor board and Mudd’s deans.

“Our deans do a pretty good job of protecting us,” Ewing said. “There are some things they can’t protect us from, like grand theft auto, so they discourage us from stealing vehicles like golf carts.”

Despite the risk of damage fees, Mudd students hope to carry on this cherished tradition in future years, seeing it as a quintessential component of dorm culture.

“It is a good introduction to prank culture, especially [to] underclassmen,” Blackburn said.

Ewing, one of the four Atwood Dorm presidents, noted that the guidelines surrounding the Scav enger Hunt promote bonding within the Atwood community.

“Three different class years have to be on each team, so it en courages you to get to know your classmates,” Ewing said.

First-year Stewart Kerr HM ’26 enjoyed his experience being part of the scavenger hunt, and felt it was an important part of releasing early-semester anxiety and getting to know his peers.

“It was a cool suite bonding experience,” Kerr said. “I’ll defi nitely do it again next year.”

“There has been very little communication from the office in general, so I think it would be a waste of my time to try and get my needs met,” Soleil Laurin SC ’24 said. “I’ve just been explaining the situation to my professors, and so far, they’ve been understanding.”

While Bella Guizler Bonilla SC ’26 did not have issues receiving her housing accommodations this past summer, the same was not true when it came to her academic accommodations.

“I submitted all the information about my hearing aids and told them the microphone they needed to order. I gave them everything they needed, but they somehow messed it up and ordered me the wrong [microphone],” Guizler Bonilla said. “It got here in the middle of September, and it was the wrong one.”

Now, seven weeks into classes, her correct microphone has still not arrived, but she is making do with the one provided by Scripps.

“[The microphone] is the most important accommodation I have,” she said. “That is what I use for class. And I was without that for a few weeks, which really sucked … Being a first year, trying to get the lay of the land and then having to deal with [accommo dations] on top of it was really

stressful.”

Managing without her full ac commodations has been complicat ed by ARS’s lack of timely responses.

“The only reason [the staff] has been getting back to me is because I show up to the office. I physically have to be there, and not everyone has the time for that,” Guizler Bo nilla said.

Guizler Bonilla has also worked directly with her professors, who she said have helped fill a void left by ARS.

“Seriously, bless them all. I love my teachers,” Guizler Bonilla said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t have such supportive professors.”

However, Hernandez cautioned against acquiring accommodations informally through professors.

“Due to legal implications, acces sibility and consistency, it is import ant that all accommodations be done through the Office of Academic Resources and Services,” Hernan dez said. “An accommodation is not formalized or deemed official until this occurs.”

Hernandez explained that ARS already sent out 709 accommoda tions letters to professors and staff this year on behalf of 235 students, which he said covers the majority of students registered with accom modations.

“During the second week of the semester, ARS sent a comprehensive email outlining and providing links and resources to students who were, at any point, registered with our office, including guidance on how to coordinate accommodations,” he said.

In the email, students with ques tions were encouraged to book a meeting with Hernandez via Calendly, which offered times be tween 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Tues days, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Trulove said the email was “com pletely unhelpful.”

“It didn’t really address any actual concerns that students have with ARS,” Trulove said. “... ARS can claim to provide students with its services all it wants in an email, but until they actually start getting stuff done, words alone can never be enough.”

ARS also transitioned to a new AIM portal this year to be in sync with the other Claremont Colleges, which use the same platform for managing accommodations.

Unlike the other 7Cs, the Scripps portal is not currently listed on the The Claremont Colleges Services’ website. Instead, students with regis tered accommodations were sent an email with a link.

Laurin found using the portal challenging, especially without a walkthrough provided by ARS.

“I feel even more marginalized by these changes, and disabled students deserve better,” Laurin said. “We have to jump through enough hoops as it is in our daily life, and the institutions that are supposed to support us are making our lives more complicated. I see this as disrespectful and ignorant to the needs of students.”

When the portal sent Trulove’s accommodations to her professors, it lacked specificity.

“This year, they said my accom modations were “distraction-free test ing” and “other,” without describing what the “other” was at all,” Trulove said. “Meaning my professors didn’t know about the like five other accom modations I have to have in order to function at all in class.”

The “other” category could not be edited in the portal, and without an email response from ARS about this issue, Trulove had to discuss her needs with her professors to arrive at a solution.

While ARS did not help students navigate the portal this year, Hernan dez said plans are in the works for future assistance.

“We do agree that there are several aspects of the AIM portal that may not be as intuitive or user-friendly,” Hernandez said. “As we continue to learn how to improve utilizing the portal, we have a plan to provide more guidance and tools to help stu dents navigate AIM.”

With more staff being hired, Her nandez hopes that the responsiveness of ARS will improve.

“ARS is in the process of onboard ing new staff members to support our office and student needs,” Hernandez said. “We hope to continue to strive to respond to students within this timely manner.”

at Pomona faces disputes from students who wish to develop alternative dining options.

Larkin Place and Claremont’s fight for affordable housing

Throughout Claremont’s residen tial areas, many homes have signs on their front lawns reflecting both support and opposition for Larkin Place, a proposed affordable housing development for vulnerable popula tions in the city.

Echoing some residents’ opposi tion to the project, Claremont’s City Council voted on June 30 to block some of Larkin Place’s proposed architectural features. As a result, Cla remont now faces a litigation threat from California’s attorney general if the city does not move to approve the housing development by Wednesday or come up with proof that it does not meet certain public health standards.

Located at 731 Harrison Avenue and adjacent to Larkin Park, Larkin Place is the result of a partnership between the City of Claremont, the retirement community of Pilgrim Place and Jamboree Housing Corpo ration, a nonprofit affordable housing developer with a long history in Southern California.

When Pilgrim Place sold the land to Jamboree, they specified that it should be used to help houseless and disabled people, according to Gene Boutilier, a Claremont resident and member of Pilgrim Place’s governing board.

Following Pilgrim Place’s spec ifications, Jamboree’s proposed de velopment will have 32 apartment

homes to serve as permanent sup portive housing for people who earn no more than 30% of the area median income, which is about $11,800 for an individual in Claremont. Residents will include individuals and couples with spe cial needs who have previously been houseless, or at a higher risk, according to Jamboree’s website.

In addition, the development will feature onsite program coordi nators to help residents access local services such as career counseling, community education and daycare, with the eventual goal being for them to become stable, thriving members of the community.

Much like other cities in South ern California, Claremont has not met affordable housing require ments as specified by California’s Housing Elements law.

Every eight years, California creates a Regional Housing Needs Assessment plan, which identifies the amount of housing each munic ipality needs to build for different income levels.

Since 2006, no new develop ments in Claremont have included housing in the low-income category, according to Claremont’s Housing Elements Report.

Claremont’s lack of affordable housing has been noticed by peo ple outside the city, according to Zachary Courser, a board member of Housing Claremont which is a nonprofit that advocates for af

fordable housing and services for houseless people.

The Southern California News Group, which compiles a report card that ranks jurisdictions on how well they meet state-mandated housing goals, gave Claremont a D+ in their most recent ranking.

Despite California’s requirement that Claremont build 866 units of housing for ‘low’ or ‘very low’ income residents by 2029, the city council voted 3-2 in favor of pro hibiting Jamboree from accessing a nearby parking lot, otherwise known as an easement. The June 30 vote, however, went against Jambo ree’s preferred site plan.

The decision also rejected a grant of $700,000 in improvements to the infrastructure of Larkin Park.

Courser said that the denial of the easement will not stop Larkin Place from being built because it is a by-right project.

Because the project is “by-right,” the city can only apply objective standards, such as a height limit, rather than subjective measures, such as whether the development is “compatible” with the surrounding neighborhood, according to the Claremont Courier.

“As long as the [Larkin Place] development follows building laws, it’s allowed,” said Courser, who is also a professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College.

However, the denial of the ease ment could have the potential to

make the housing less agreeable to future residents by forcing Jam boree to change features of the building plan, according to Courser.

In response to the outcome of the June 30 meeting, the California Department of Housing and Com munity Development (DHCD) sent a letter to the city of Claremont on Aug.12 stating that the Claremont City Council violated the Housing Accountability Act by denying the easement.

The City of Claremont has until Wednesday to write a response letter to DHCD. The response letter must include “a specific plan and timeline for corrective action that allows the Project to move forward with its plans without further delay or demonstrate that legally sufficient health and safety findings were made pursuant to Govern ment Code,” according to DHCD.

As the legal back and forth between Claremont’s City Council and DHCD continues, local opin ions about Larkin Place remain divided. Some residents, like Ei leen Chen, are concerned with the potential effects on community safety. Chen stated her opposition due to the presence of students in the surrounding area, especially during after-school hours.

As the project currently stands, residents will be placed in Larkin Place through Los Angeles County’s Coordinated Entry System (CES), which is a list that connects indi

viduals experiencing houselessness to available resources, according to their website.

Chen critiqued Larkin Place be cause future residents might not necessarily come from Claremont.

“It’s a good idea to set up a new home for the [houseless],” Chen said. “But just for our local [houseless population] and not for the whole of Los Angeles.”

CES accounts for where people call home when determining perma nent supportive housing, according to Housing Claremont’s website.

The main organized opposition to Larkin Place is Safe and Transparent Claremont, an advocacy group of residents and concerned citizens, according to its website. Safe and Transparent Claremont did not re spond to TSL’s request for comment.

Other residents see Larkin Place as providing a safe space where at-risk populations can access needed help. To Elizabeth Moore, houseless people should not be blamed for their lack of housing, and Larkin Place would pro vide a sense of stability to unhoused people who are already in Claremont.

“I just wish people would stop as suming people who have addictions and people that have mental illnesses are somehow dangerous and should not be taken care of,” Moore said. “Building Larkin Place does not put me in danger. In fact, I’m probably more in danger if we have people who are having difficulties and can’t get any help and become desperate.”

Larkin Place y la lucha por viviendas económicamente accesibles

En la zona residencial de Clare mont, muchas casas tienen letreros en sus jardines que muestran apoyo u oposición hacia Larkin Place, un proyecto de desarrollo de viviendas económicamente accesibles para co munidades marginadas en la ciudad.

Resonando la oposición hacia el proyecto de algunos residentes, el ayuntamiento de Claremont votó para desaprobar algunas de las carac terísticas arquitectónicas propuestas. En consecuencia, el municipio ahora enfrenta la amenaza de litigios del fiscal general de California si la alcaldía no aprueba Larkin Place o prueba que no satisface con ciertos estándares de salud pública.

Ubicado en 731 Harrison Avenue y contiguo a Larkin Park, Larkin Place es el fruto de una colaboración entre la Ciudad de Claremont, la co munidad de jubilados Pilgrim Place y Jamboree Housing Corporation, una organización sin fines de lucro que se enfoca en el desarrollo de hogares económicamente sustentables y que tiene una larga historia en el Sur de California.

Cuando Pilgrim Place vendió el terreno a Jamboree, ellos especifi caron que se debería de usar para ayudar a las personas sin hogar y personas discapacitadas, según Gene Boutilier, un residente de Claremont y miembro de la junta directiva de Pilgrim Place.

Siguiendo las especificaciones de Pilgrim Place, el proyecto de desar rollo propuesto por Jamboree tendrá 32 apartamentos que servirán como

viviendas de apoyo permanente para personas que ganan no más de 30% del salario medio del área, que es alrededor de $11,800 USD para una persona en Claremont.

Además, el proyecto contará con coordinadores del programa en el sitio para ayudar a los residentes a acceder a servicios locales, tales como asesoramiento profesional, educación para la comunidad y guarderías, con el objetivo final de que se conviertan en miembros de la comunidad que luchen por prosperidad y estabilidad.

Como muchas otras ciudades en el Sur de California, Claremont no ha cumplido con los requerimien tos de viviendas económicamente accesibles que han sido especifi cados por la Ley de Elementos de Vivienda de California.

Cada ocho años, California crea un plan de Evaluación Regional de las Necesidades de Vivienda, que identifica la cantidad de viviendas que se necesitan construir para los diferentes niveles de ingresos.

Desde el 2006, ningún proyecto de desarrollo en Claremont ha incluido viviendas en la categoría de ingresos bajos, según el “Clare mont’s Housing Elements Report”.

La falta de hogares económica mente sustentables ha sido notada por personas fuera de la ciudad, dijo Zachary Courser, un miembro de la junta directiva de “Housing Claremont”, una organización sin fines de lucro que aboga por vivi endas económicamente accesibles

y servicios para personas sin hogar.

“The Southern California News Group’’, quien recopila una boleta que rankea a las jurisdicciones de acuerdo a que tan bien cumplen con los objetivos de vivienda es tablecidos por el estado, le otorgó a Claremont un D+ en su ranking más reciente.

A pesar de que Claremont debe construir 866 unidades de vivien das para personas con ingresos bajos o muy bajos para el 2029, en una votación de 3-2 que ocurrió el 30 de junio, el ayuntamiento negó una servidumbre para Larkin Place al negarles el derecho a acceder o usar un estacionamiento cercano. La servidumbre es una característi ca arquitectónica clave para la con strucción de Larkin Place.

La decisión además rechazó conceder $700,000 en mejoras a la infraestructura de Larkin Park.

Courser dijo que negar la ser vidumbre no detendrá la construc ción de Larkin Place, ya que es un proyecto “por derecho’’.

Como Larkin Place es un proyecto por derecho, la ciudad solo puede aplicar estándares ob jetivos, como límites de altura. No pueden aplicar medidas subjetivas, tal como si el desarrollo es compat ible con el vecindario en el que será construido, según el Claremont Courier.

“Mientras que el desarrollo Larkin Place siga todas las leyes de construcción, está permitido”, dijo Courser, quien también es profesor

de gobierno en Claremont McKen na College.

Sin embargo, al negar la ser vidumbre, existe la posibilidad de que el proyecto sea de menor agrado a los residentes porque Jam boree tendrá que cambiar aspectos de su diseño, según Courser.

En respuesta al resultado de la junta del 30 de junio, el depar tamento de vivienda y desarrollo comunitario (DHCD) del estado de California envió una carta a la ciudad de Claremont el 12 de agos to, diciendo que el ayuntamiento de Claremont había violado la ley de responsabilidad y vivienda de California al negar la servidumbre.

La ciudad de Claremont tiene hasta este miércoles para escribirle una carta de respuesta al DHDC. La carta de respuesta debe incluir un “plan y una línea de tiempo específica para acciones correctivas que permitan avanzar al proyecto en sus propósitos sin más atrasos, o demostrar que suficientes hallazgos de salubridad y seguridad sean hechos siguiendo al código guber namental,” según DHCD.

Mientras continúan las disputas legales entre el ayuntamiento de Claremont y DHDC, las opiniones de los residentes acerca de Lar kin Place permanecen divididas. Algunos residentes, como Eileen Chen, dicen que les preocupa que el proyecto afecte la seguridad de la comunidad. Chen dijo que se opone al proyecto porque se preocupa por los estudiantes que viven en los

alrededores, en especial después del horario escolar.

Por como está diseñado el proyec to, los residentes de Larkin Place serán seleccionados a través del sistema de entrada coordinada del condado de Los Ángeles, el cual es una lista que conecta a todos las personas sin hogar con recursos que estén disponibles, según su página web.

Chen criticó a Larkin Place porque puede que algunos de sus futuros residentes no vengan de Claremont.

CES considera dónde residen las personas al determinar su vivienda de apoyo permanente, según el sitio web de Housing Claremont.

Existe también un grupo de ciu dadanos organizados en oposición a Larkin Place llamado Safe and Trans parent Claremont, formado por res identes y ciudadanos preocupados por el proyecto, según su sitio web. Safe and Transparent Claremont no contestó a la solicitud de comentario de TSL.

Otros ciudadanos ven a Larkin Place como una oportunidad para proporcionarles un espacio seguro y apoyo a las poblaciones en ries go. Elizabeth Moore dice que las personas sin hogar no deberían ser culpadas por no tener un lugar físi co donde vivir. Para Moore, Larkin Place les daría un sentimiento de estabilidad a aquellas personas sin hogar que ya viven en Claremont.

Traducido por Sara Garza Gonzalez y Mariana Duran

CMC: Chodosh says center will be ‘powerful’ learning platform

continued from page 1 among other honors.

According to Ingels and Cho dosh, the new Roberts Day Sciences Center is designed to facilitate inter disciplinary learning and commu nity building from the ground up.

“It almost perfectly embodies what I think is unique with the idea of an Integrated Science Center in the liberal arts campus — that you’re actually bringing the analytical and the experimental, the rational and the creative, together in a new and unified environment,” Ingels said during the groundbreaking ceremony.

The new building will not follow the trend of traditional, geomet ric science spaces; instead, it will

include warm colors, homely designs and large open spaces.

Described by Ingels as a “Jenga of spaces,” the building will em phasize connection across and between floors.

“On one hand, it has to be a very technical, rational space for science and for labs,” Ingles said. “But on the other hand, it wants to be playful and inviting and engaging and create meetings across disciplines and across the different levels.”

At the event, Chodosh chal lenged the idea that the new science center will change the makeup of the CMC student body or the type of students drawn to CMC, which is known for its strength in social science subjects like government, economics and

psychology.

“It’s not so much that the stu dent body will change or that we seek to change,” Chodosh said during the event, emphasizing that the college is catching up to where students already are.

Chodosh also added that the new facilities will help the college address “the grand socioscientific challenges that we face in our civilization.”

Alumni and students attend ed the event to tour the recently cleared construction site.

Mark Schwartz CM ’78 said that the new building is “a quan tum leap into the future.”

“The world is evolving where information — data science — is the bedrock for most decisions. So I really salute the school for

moving forward with programs that they have,” said Schwartz, an entrepreneur and former invest ment banker involved in CMC’s fundraising efforts.

Bethany Ruiz CM ’08, a part ner at the international law firm Latham and Watkins LLP, com mented on the significance of CMC’s campus expansion for the culture and future of the college.

“How many colleges [that] reach this level, this type of fund ing, are able to do this kind of construction and build out their academic programs the way CMC has, in such a short period of time?” Ruiz said. “It’s a very innovative, ambitious and entre preneurial school. And you don’t often see that in an academic institution.”

Despite Chodosh’s reassurances, Devin Dinh CM ’25 said the new building might represent a shift away from an institution with heavy emphasis on government and eco nomics and toward a focus on data science and physical sciences.

Because the new science center will have a dedicated computer science department, CMC students will not have to “leech off of Harvey Mudd or Pomona,” Dinh said.

As Chodosh finished addressing the crowd, he praised the science building and its implications for generations of CMC students to come.

“We’re all going to be able to enjoy it as one of the most powerful learning platforms ever developed in the world of higher education,” he said.

Claremont Challah gives back to the community Martina Vandenberg PO ’90 speaks on experience in human rights work

If the excited lines at Pomona College’s Smith Campus Center last Thursday didn’t give it away, Clare mont Challah is back and sweeter than ever. With the debut of a straw berry jam flavor alongside classics like cinnamon sugar and pesto parmesan, students can once again count on a tasty treat to celebrate the end of the week.

With the help of 5C volunteers, the club bakes and sells fresh loaves of challah, a Jewish bread, every Thursday night and Friday morn ing. Challah’s presence on campus has only continued to grow since the club made its comeback last fall, but it’s been a community favorite for years.

“My freshman year the lines were also super long, and post-pandemic last year they were even crazier,” club president Virna Seminario PO ’23 said. “Food can be a very power ful way to unite a community.”

Like many other students, Semi nario got involved with Challah be cause she loved baking and wanted to engage with the 5C community in the way that this club does.

“In high school, baking and cooking was a huge stress reliever for me,” she said. “When I got on campus, the one club that could of fer me that was Challah. I thought it was a great opportunity to meet new people and get involved on campus.”

She has served on the club’s ex ecutive board for almost three years now. This means she spearheaded the revival of the club last fall after its hiatus during the online 20202021 academic year, aiming to sat isfy both returning and first-time customers.

“Relaunching Challah was a bit of a challenge given that there were so many precautions that had to be taken for COVID and food safety,” Seminario said. “Challah’s home has always been Frary, but the whole of last year we baked out of Frank because it was easier for Pomona dining hall services, so we had to ac commodate that.”

This past week, the bakers faced a learning curve as they settled back into the Frary kitchen. Sarah Meilinger PO ’23, one of the head bakers, admitted that the first week wasn’t without its challenges — but they’re rolling with it.

“All of us were trying to either fully get acquainted or reacquainted with the kitchen,” she said. “There was definitely some fumbling around in the dark.”

But this adjustment didn’t detract

from the fun of baking alongside other excited students, an expe rience which encouraged her to get involved in the first place.

“Being in the kitchen and getting to know the staff and how that all works is amazing. And then my favorite part is also meeting people,” Meilinger said. “In selling, you get to interact with all the people who lined up to purchase the bread, and you also get to meet all of the vol unteers — it’s really amazing to meet people who are passionate enough to help.”

And that passion for helping others is what lies at the core of Challah’s mission; at the end of each semester, Challah collects input from students, volunteers and members of the E-board and elects a handful of causes to do nate their profits to.

Seminario explains that social justice is part of the reason so many people, including herself, are so invested in the club.

“For a lot of people at the [Claremont] Colleges, social jus tice and social action was part of the reason why they came here,” Seminario said. “The impact … really does matter, and we take the causes we donate to really seriously. And because we are a community-based club, we want to make sure that the people in our community have a say of where our proceeds go.”

Challah raised $7,000 last fall, and some of the chosen organi zations included Food Forward, Inland Harvest, Alianza Coach ella Valley and LA Food Policy Council.

“The idea that, as students, we’re able to use our flex dollars and that money, the profits, are able to go into the community, is really important to me and also the club as a whole. It’s our entire mission,” Meilinger said.

Though Claremont Challah doesn’t set monetary goals for each semester, bringing the 5C community together is one of their priorities.

“It can definitely be a little intimidating to know that peo ple from Harvey Mudd have trekked down to Pomona to pur chase the bread,” Meilinger said. “But making sure we have a 5C presence just so everyone knows that we’re here is really nice.”

To get involved with Claremont Challah and keep up with their latest flavors, check out @challah_gram on Instagram.

VIDUSSHI HINGAD

An attorney, activist and Pomona alumna Martina Vandenberg PO ’90 wears multiple hats. From education to work experience, she has dabbled in many fields and is now settled in the field of human rights work.

A recipient of both the Rhodes and the Truman Scholarships, Vandenberg pursued further education at Oxford University, where she graduated with a Master of Philosophy in Russian and East European Studies, and at Columbia University, where she graduated with a J.D. Vandenberg attributes Pomona College’s influence on her professional success as equipping her with valuable writing skills.

“Someone once said that lawyers are just weaponized librarians, and what I say to that is actually, lawyers are weaponized writers,” Vanderberg said. “If you focus on learning anything at Pomona, you should focus on learning how to write. It will behoove you — it will be such a boon.”

She acknowledges the Pomona faculty who have been a supporting factor to her success.

“My professors always believed in me,” Vandenberg said. “They really think we are capable of doing wonderful things, and when they believe, it compels us to believe it too.”

Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, she worked as a researcher for the Israel Women’s Network.

“It was a big leap to take a

year off of law school, because I went [to Israel] for a summer fellowship and extended it because I wanted to finish the report on trafficking of women for forced prostitution in Israel,” Vandenberg said. “I felt scared to be out of sync with my classmates and to be taking that year off. In a way, that was very unusual.”

Nonetheless, in hindsight, this experiential learning helped her feel prepared to work at the Human Rights Watch.

“The time I spent in Israel, essentially learning everything, helped me transfer that knowledge into being a full time researcher at Human Rights Watch,” Vandenberg said.

After graduating from law school and completing four years at the Human Rights Watch, Vandenberg joined the law firm Jenner & Block LLP and eventually made partner. During her time there, she took on multiple pro bono cases.

Eventually, Vandenberg decided to work only on pro bono cases and departed from the firm to found her own foundation: the Human Trafficking Legal Center. She now provides strategic litigation as a form of justice to trafficking survivors.

“There were many cases that I wanted to represent, but I couldn’t do them,” Vandenberg said. “I just decided that every law firm should have a pro bono practice group.

So, I decided that it was much more efficient for me to leave the firm and start training lawyers and other firms and then providing technical assistance to all [these] lawyers at the other firms so that they could do the

cases as well.”

Vandenburg enjoys the process of representing her clients in court — as well as getting positive results back.

“Winning brings me enormous joy.” Vandenberg said. “For example, I love it when we’re able to get a visa for someone to stay in the United States, and we’re able to get a visa for their children to come to the United States. I have seen a mother and a child reunite after 10 years.”

She attempts to have both her actions and words reflect a desire to make change.

“I strive to change systems so that it’s easier for people,” Vandenberg said. “Changing the laws, changing infrastructure and changing the ways things work so that it’s easier for people to change.”

According to Vandenberg, ground-level work helps create this change. She advises students who want to pursue work in human rights to work on the ground.

”Go to the trenches,” she said. “You have to invest time and energy. There are human rights violations in Mississippi or in Alabama, or you can work in Russia or Ukraine or the Central African Republic. But I think you actually have to ‘do’ before you can opine on what the policy should be.“

Vandenberg attests to the power of experiential knowledge over theoretical knowledge when it comes to working for humanitarian purposes.

“When you go to the trenches, you contribute in a meaningful way and you know how the world truly works,” she said. “It gives you credibility, but most importantly, it gives you substance.”

Pomona unveils latest artist exhibition ‘5 Indices on a Tortured Body’

If you’ve noticed blank bill boards popping up around Pomo na College’s campus, then stay on the lookout, because starting Oct. 8, Wardell Milan’s “5 Indices on a Tor tured Body” exhibition will be on full display in five locations around campus. The billboards will stay up until April 2.

Each billboard features a collage of one of five marginalized bodies that Milan identified, including the Black body, the female body, the trans body, the migrant body and the quarantine body. Milan initially showcased his series at the Bronx Museum, and he reimagined “5 Indices on a Tortured Body” in the context of Pomona’s campus.

The billboards are located in front of Frank Dining Hall, behind Bridges Auditorium, next to Po mona’s gates, on Walker Beach and south of Carnegie Hall.

Milan has been working with Pomona’s Benton Museum of Art to make this exhibition a reality for two years, a process that began after Museum Director Victoria Sancho Lobis approached Milan about do ing an outdoor art installation.

“She proposed to do a billboard project, and it was up to my discre tion as to what I wanted the topic to be about,” Milan said. “And, at the time, I was really working a lot on this project, ‘5 Indices on a Tor tured Body,’ and wanted to continue thinking about that body of work and these ideas in this project, so [I] really [began] to reimagine what’s happening in the studio … and re imagine how that could exist in a billboard form.”

Originally, he wanted to create the exhibition to show the ways in which the five body types are both accepted and rejected by main stream society.

“The inspiration is really to think and create work that dealt with all the different complicated issues — both the fraught issues and also the beautiful issues and complications that these indi vidual communities have — and creating public art pieces that cel ebrated all of those different com plicated conversations,” Milan said.

Milan drew inspiration from his friends when choosing the five different bodies to display, specif ically the trans body and female body.

“My good friend Zee is in the trans body billboard, so [I] talk[ed] with her [about] what it feel[s] like and the struggles of being a trans female,” Milan said. “I have amaz ing female friends and [had] con versations [with them]. Black fe males and white females — there’s common shared stories about just being a particular gender and dealing with men and dealing with the idea of constantly having to prove yourself or dealing with having certain privacy rights tak en away.”

To make his ideas into a reality, Milan relied on help from the Ben ton in deciding where certain piec es should be, the ways in which they would be installed and the construction of the physical bill boards.

Now that these logistical aspects are complete, the Benton is working on informing the com munity about the installation.

According to Benton commu nications assistant Caroline East burn, the museum is taking sever al avenues to spread the word to students at the colleges, including via email, social media posts and on-campus posters. The Benton is also informing professors and on-campus groups about the ex hibition in hopes that they will let students know about the installa tion as well.

Eastburn’s job is to figure out programming for the event, which she said she will develop during the six months of the exhibition. However, she believes that to some extent students will also learn about billboards naturally.

“One of the more exciting things about a public art project is that it takes on a life of its own, and so [that’s] what we’re hoping for,” Eastburn said, “...and we’re

hoping for programming to come out of that.”

Like Eastburn, Milan thinks that the billboards will reach a lot of students simply because of the medium it is in, which, he said, also will allow for the pieces to en gage with the viewer in a new way.

“The art is meeting the view er, and the audience engage[s] with the work as they are mov ing through this instance, mov ing through the campus, moving through the space of the campus, so I like that the way in which viewership and audience partici pation is a lot different from from someone coming into a gallery space,” Milan said.

From Eastburn’s perspective, the exhibition’s purpose is to force its viewers to address and engage with a difficult topic.

“It’s really bringing those con

versations to the forefront through visual means, and it really is to make visible these marginalized groups that are often invisible to the community,” Eastburn said. “So it’s to celebrate those groups and to also spark some conversation.”

Milan agrees and hopes that the billboards can have an impact on their viewers, both on a small and large scale.

“The small goal would be that the images would cause a conver sation and have people be con scious about how they’re dealing with marginalized individuals and, hopefully, have people look at mar ginalized groups or persons with a different level of respect or a greater level of understanding or, at least, empathy,” Milan said. “The largest hope would be that it causes some one to become an advocate in some sort of way.”

WENDY

WENDY ZHANG • tHE StUDENt LIFE

cOUrtESY: WIKIMEDIA cOMMONS

claremont challah sells freshly baked challah every thursday evening and Friday morning at Pomona college’s Smith campus center.

billboards showing off artist Wardell Milan’s “5 Indices on a tortured body” are sprinkled across the Pomona college campus.

Martina Vandenberg PO ’90 founded the Human Trafficking Legal Center to provide strategic litigation as a form of justice to trafficking survivors.

The enduring relevance of ‘The Hobbit’

Tolkien is a familiar name to most. Many of us have had some contact with J. R. R. Tolkien’s Mid dle-earth, either through his litera ture or its various adaptations. Even those who have not have still often heard of whimsical, curious crea tures like hobbits, elves and orcs — all concepts whose mainstream de signs have been majorly influenced by Tolkien’s work.

For a long time, the fantasy com munity, inspired in part by Tolkien, was often relegated to a more niche space. With the pandemic, however, came the revival of escapist media like books and aesthetics. Move ments like “cottage core” and “dark academia” are dedicated to helping their participants frame a sometimes non-idyllic existence through a more idyllic lens.

With this desire to escape an ail ing reality, the fantasy community has now found a more mainstream audience post-pandemic with the rising popularity of communi ty-based activities like Dungeons and Dragons, Live Action Role Play ing and renaissance faires and festi vals across the world.

Alongside this resurgence, more people are coming into contact with Tolkien’s Middle-earth, which, al most a century after being written, has retained a loyal audience of readers who celebrate Bilbo Baggins’ eleventy-one birthday and swear by second breakfast. The fervor for this series has even spawned a sub-aes thetic also known as “hobbitcore,” which focuses itself mainly on the pursuit of “peace and quiet and a good tilled earth,” which Tolkien cites as the main objective of his dearly beloved hobbits.

Due to the steady appreciation of the Tolkien world, Amazon recent ly released the TV show “Rings of

Power,” one of many Tolkien re tellings that have been produced over the last couple of years. New episodes of the series are still be ing released weekly on Amazon Prime, but it has already received a spectrum of reviews. One big point of contention is that this is the first Tolkien retelling to feature people of color as elves. It is in the wake of this controversy and dis cussion over the themes and inten tions of Tolkien’s Middle-earth that I decided to give the series a go.

As a fantasy lover myself, I have always been quite aware of the influence that Tolkien has had on the lore of elves and dwarves, forever in the periphery of the tra ditional fantasy understanding. So with an open mind, I began at the very beginning — “The Hobbit.”

Interspecies interactions have always been a huge part of Tolk ien’s universe, from wood elves to dwarves to goblins. The varied relationships between each group are something that is deeply dis cussed. Throughout “The Hobbit,” we see Bilbo fight against goblins and wargs but also find friendship with Eagles and shapeshifters.

It is this representation of a fantasy world, complete with crea tures of all different backgrounds and lore, that adds to the richness of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. To the dwarves, the goblins are unforgiv able enemies who have cost them centuries of pain and loss, but, as one might imagine, the goblins have a different view on this them selves, and Tolkien allows a peek into their humanity when they lose their king and quickly become vengeful in response.

One of the overall quests of the book is to defeat the singular drag on, Smaug. However, his death instead heralds an interspecies war, bringing up questions about conflict and racial relations that are altogether not fully answerable — the kind of questions that haunt us

today.

There is also the issue of the othered creatures that our charac ters come across as. One such char acter is Gollum, who is equal parts pitiable as he is despicable. Despite being framed as an antagonist to Bilbo’s journey, we are left empa thizing with poor Gollum, who has been fated to live a life in the dark with only memories of the long-forgotten sun and dead fami ly members to keep him warm.

Gollum, while presented as a monster in search of carnage and food, is truly in search of a com munity. And it is this loneliness that makes him relatable — a bum bling creature who’s lost his ability to socialize and speak to others de spite desperately wanting to. Does

‘Industry’ finds comfort in chaos

“Industry” is one of the best shows to come out in the last few years. Chances are, though, that you’ve never even heard of it. The British-American series, a sleeper hit on HBO and BBC, centers on five young post-grad hires vying for permanent jobs at one of Lon don’s most prestigious and cut throat investment banks. While a show like this wouldn’t usually appeal to me, I decided to give it a shot last month as its second season aired. It caught me by sur prise in the best way possible.

The core characters include Yasmin (Marisa Abela), a pub lishing heiress who is treated like an errand girl by her male super visor; Robert (Harry Lawtry), a white working-class Oxford grad who is more focused on snorting coke and sexting Yasmin than his job; and Gus (David Jonsson), a Ghanian-British Etonian who quickly grows tired of the finan cial world. At the center of it all is Harper (Myha’la Herrold), the only Black American woman on her floor who is concealing the fact that she is a college dropout.

What makes this show great is that none of these characters are very likable, but they are ridic ulously watchable. Even when they’re making awful decisions, you still find yourself rooting for them to win.

This clearest case of this is found in Harper, the show’s pro tagonist and antihero. She looks at the meritocracy of her chosen field as a chance for reinvention and is not particularly sympa thetic to the people she wrongs to make her reality possible. This obviously alienates her from her colleagues and often us as view ers.

However, some, like her boss Eric Tao (Ken Leung), encourage her to embrace this, as long as it also benefits his desk.

Harper is undoubtedly an underdog and she knows it. In the first season, while sitting in a bathroom cubicle, she overhears a pair of fellow post-grads com plaining about how she has an unfair advantage in the compe tition for a permanent job since she is both Black and female.

Her willingness to do almost anything to get a trade done is what keeps us hooked, as well as what hooks Eric into hiring her. He sees a younger ver sion of himself – a mischievous American willing to wade into morally-ambiguous waters to dominate the trading floor. Even when she demonstrates that her only loyalty is only to herself, Harper’s tenacity makes it hard not to root for her.

Two other aspects of “Indus try” that truly stand out are its writing and sound design. From the very first scene, a sound scape of synthy electronic mu sic, abstract financial jargon and British slang floods your ears.

Some of the show’s best lines are snippets of background dia logue on the trading floor, one example being, “Cryptos reek of virginity and building your own bomb, but Kenny’s more fluent than he cares to admit.”

It’s also from this emphasis on sound that we quickly learn how finance is a confidence game. Often, the stakes of a trade lie in the vocal performances. When the pitch starts to get shaky, it’s no longer what a “one-year Euro swap in 500K DVO1” means, it’s about how confidently the trad er says those words.

This intense atmosphere en velops you, and it feels good — almost comforting — even when one of the characters is close to losing everything. It’s intoxicat ing enough to give you the same thrill of adrenaline that every one in “Industry” is chasing.

The show never holds back from exposing the cruelty, power plays and ritualistic hu miliation that come at the ex pense of ambition, or how they mirror the intensity of the sex, drugs and partying the trad ers use to cope. This is made all the more evident in season two.

When viewers first met the young post-grads, they were clean and wide-eyed. They weren’t exactly blind to the industry they were entering, but they were at least naively assured about making their mark. Now, in the post-pan demic world of season two, they are still hungry but more jaded than ever. Harper is anx ious to leave the hotel from which she’s been remotely working, Yasmin is as cold and arrogant as the bosses she once despised and a now-sober Rob is barely getting by.

This works in the show’s favor, however, as the charac ters seem much more human than they were in season one. You wince when an investor snaps at Rob, you flinch when Harper gets told she’s become invisible. Season two also in troduces us to their families, which helps to flesh out their emotional dysfunction and past traumas.

While “Industry” has yet to be officially renewed for a third season, the changes re flected in season two only re affirm the praise it’s received from viewers and critics alike, as well as cement its place as one of — if not the absolute — most thrilling show on televi sion right now.

Hannah Eliot SC ’24 is from San Francisco, California. She likes to surf and is trying (and failing) to learn how to play the guitar.

that sound familiar?

While “The Hobbit” functions as a hero’s journey and a tale of adventure and friendship, it is also a tale of dark topics, including the cruel treatment of those we do not understand and the intricacies of a history laden with pain and war — topics that plague not just the fan tasy world but also our own.

It is through media like Tolk ien’s that we find accessible ways of approaching subject matter that can often be difficult to confront, and it is what makes adaptations of Tolkien’s work so personal and important to keep retelling. Shows like “Rings of Power” need to be adapted for today’s audience to reflect the struggles that we our selves wrestle with: questions in

volving race, colonization and the acceptance of those different from us.

In the end, as Bilbo returns to his hobbit hole with little treasure and a tattered reputation but a new host of friends and stories, Tolkien impresses upon us that he is perfect ly content. He leaves us to ponder what Bilbo muses as he says a final goodbye to a new friend: “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

Tomi Oyedeji-Olaniyan

CM ’23 is a dual neuroscience and literature ma jor. If you need her, say her name in the mirror three times, and legend says she will appear to give you the perfect book recommendation.

The brilliance of food in buckets

On Saturday mornings as a child, you could always find me watching “Masterchef,” “Chopped” or “Cupcake Wars,” my eyes glued to the screen. I was obsessed with these food competition shows growing up; I was mesmerized by the way that thinly-shaved cucumber slices could form flower-shaped garnishes and how a specif ic arrangement of a thousand cupcakes could bear semblance to a snow-laden oak tree. These shows cemented in me the im portance of good presentation, and for a long time I held onto this ideal unwaveringly — that is, until a couple weeks ago.

One Sunday, before driving to my church in Orange County, I decided to stop by Nosy Neigh bors in the Claremont Village to grab some treats for my friends. I had heard that they sold do nuts by the bucket, and I was intrigued.

I stepped inside and placed the order, and a few minutes later I was, indeed, presented with a bucket of mini donuts. The bucket was nothing special, made out of thick white pa per — but as soon as I had it in my hands, I smiled. I knew my friends would get a kick out of it: tiny donuts in a literal buck et, transported with care all the way from Claremont to Orange County.

With the donuts in my pos session, I carefully made my way to my car, tightly clutching the bucket as I walked. It felt like I was carrying my own little se cret. Little did the people around me know that this unassuming paper vessel held two-and-a-half dozen cinnamon sugar-dusted mounds of fried dough. When I arrived at my car, I placed the bucket on the passenger seat, supported by my backpack on one side and a cajón on the other (don’t ask), and drove down the bumpy freeways with it safely by my side.

When I finally arrived at church, I approached my friends excitedly. “I brought donuts!” I declared. “In a bucket!” Their eyes lit up as they reached in side, and the donuts soon be gan to dwindle — they were undoubtedly a hit. At one point, my friend told me to get these addictive treats away from her, and, as any friend would, I im mediately handed her the bucket

and insisted that she hold it instead.

The bucket moved around my group of friends over the next cou ple of hours, and somehow, as the pastor was preaching, I realized it even made its way to the pulpit. My friends, and even my pastor, enjoyed the donuts. As I drove back to Claremont that afternoon, I amusedly reflected on the entire process of bucket-bringing and do nut-eating. I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about the unexpected charm of food in a bucket.

First and foremost, food in a bucket carries an element of mys tery. What’s inside? You may notice a peculiar scent wafting out, but what exactly is the surprise waiting within?

Food in a bucket also requires a certain degree of care. You must be careful not to drop it or let it tip over; you must hold it close, like you would a friend; you must consider its needs as you transport it from place to place. Is it steady? Does it need support? How do I keep it from falling?

Perhaps most importantly, food in a bucket is optimal for sharing — both of the food itself and of stories. You can pass a bucket around and enjoy its delectable contents with friends, and the silliness of the buck et itself can spur fun conversations, too. “You brought donuts?” “Yes, in a bucket!” “A bucket, you say?” I firmly believe that a bucket is the perfect conversation starter, and as it moves around the room, so do the sounds of chit-chat and laughter.

Even though a bucket may not be the most aesthetically-pleasing culinary vessel, it creates a truly one-of-a-kind eating experience. There is assuredly a time and a place for intricate culinary master pieces — for tender proteins sitting elegantly upon brushstrokes of col orful puree — but the humble buck et has clearly proven itself worthy of recognition.

So the next time you picnic with friends or whip up something to be shared in the dorm kitchens, fear not if your presentation is not neces sarily a work of art. Though it may seem crazy, I suggest that you toss your creation instead into a large, unassuming vessel — a bucket, per haps, if you have one. I assure you that it will create a worthwhile ex perience all around, and truly, you will not be disappointed.

Emily Kim PO ’25 is a banana bread enthusiast from Irvine, California. You will always catch her with a scrunchie on her wrist and napping in Lincoln Hall.

HANNAH ELIOT

EMILY KIM

bELLA PEttENGILL • tHE StUDENt LIFE

LUcIA MArQUEZ-UPPMAN • tHE StUDENt LIFE

FILM

MOMENtS tO SAVOr

Claremont Art Walk showcases art world of Inland Empire and beyond

From Bonita Avenue to First Street in the Claremont Village, on the first Saturday of each month, you can find local art galleries making a point of engaging with community members during the Claremont Art Walk. The event is an opportunity for small busi nesses to sell their work and relay some compelling narratives along the way. It is free to browse the galleries and offers students, resi dents and artists alike a chance to interact and connect.

October’s Art Walk took place on the first of the month. Many galleries participated, includ ing Crescent Tree Corp, Bunny Gunner, Studio C, Claremont Chamber of Commerce, Square I Gallery, Ahmad Shariff Gallery, Claremont Lewis Museum of Art and the Pomona Valley Art Asso ciation. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., all of the participating locations had different artist receptions where artists from the larger Los An geles Metropolitan Area came to speak about their exhibitions. The themes the exhibitions covered had a wide range. One such topic was how the sensory experience of the natural world can be represented in art at the Crescent Tree Corp gallery, which featured Alissa Warshaw’s exhib it “In Essence.”

Another theme on display at Studio C exhibited the work of Lisa Segal, an artist who explores paper as a means of communicating geometrics and systems in her mixed media pieces. And yet another was the Claremont Chamber of Com merce’s feature of Gregory Rook’s photography, depicting the seem ingly mundane collision of nature and suburbia.

Featuring a variety of media, such as glass blown objects, pho tography, textile art and paint ings, a myriad of visual offerings lay within the Art Walk. Despite spanning only a few blocks, there was much to explore.

Studio C owner and Art Walk coordinator Elizabeth Carr is an active member of her communi ty, particularly in igniting Cla remont’s creative side. She is a board member of the Claremont Village Marketing Group, the group which organizes Clare mont Art Walk. This group con sists of small business owners in the Claremont area who aim to creatively market themselves to residents. Carr’s motivations lie in allowing artists to sell and showcase their work in a dynamic setting.

“I had been here for a few years and Art Walk was be ing run by somebody who no longer had a gallery in town,” Carr said. “They were allowing other events to be planned over it. So, I decided to help out, be cause you can’t complain unless you’re gonna lend a hand.”

Carr is inspired to create ab stract pieces that bring people feelings of inner contentment, which is reflected in her en gagement with the coordination of the event. Her dedication to showcasing the more creative side of Claremont is apparent based on her continuous in volvement in the planning of Claremont Art Walk.

Another gallery features an exhibit that allows viewers a more intimate glance into the political consciousness of the Pomona Valley and beyond. Located within Bunny Gunner, black and white photographs shot by Julien Lucas aim to de pict a visual history that has oc

curred surrounding Claremont.

The exhibit is titled “Synthe sis,” as all of the photographs have been pulled from various eras of Lucas’s development as a photographer. He aspires to capture a wide range of emo tion, evidenced by his focus on protests in the local area.

Lucas speaks of the shrink ing Black population in Clare mont and hopes for viewers of his work to meditate on how the photographs may stand in contrast to their quiet suburban lives. He sees the photographs as a larger “mural” of social is sues that act as a reminder of class difference.

“I want people to be im mersed in what it feels like to be in the streets, in protest,” Lucas said.

The exhibited photographs were taken in Los Angeles during Black Lives Matter pro tests as well as the Women’s Marches. Claremont, however, wasn’t featured in these photo

graphs.

“I didn’t see a lot of activ ity in Claremont,” Lucas said. “There was more protesting happening in the city of Pomo na. But there were protests ev ery day in Los Angeles.”

By depicting the civic en gagement happening in ar eas around Claremont, Lucas hopes to challenge the subur ban comfort that Claremont represents.

Lucas also spoke to the dif ficulty of selling photography within places like Claremont.

A former small business own er, he used to run a bookstore in the Claremont Village called Mirrored Society that opened in 2015 and closed the follow ing year.

“The narrative in the Inland Empire is that photography doesn’t sell,” Lucas said. “And this has been the narrative for the longest time.”

His business has taken him to the Westside of Los Ange

On ‘Blue r ev,’ Alvvays is forever

opened inside of me.

BECKY ZHANG

In March 2018, Selena Gomez posted to Instagram a sepia-toned video of a trip she and her friends took around Sydney, Australia. As people laughed and lounged on the deck, the sailboat cruised forward, prompting small white eruptions in the sparkling blue that flanked its sides. Over all this was a voice, light but reso nant, as if an echo from heaven, that sang a looping question: “If I saw you on the street, would I have you in my dreams tonight?”

I blushed, phone in hand, as a few faces crossed my mind. I felt a curious desire for something I couldn’t imagine: the people I had yet to see who would one day make their way through my life and into my dreams.

Since 2011, Canadian band Alvvays (pronounced “always”) has graced the indie pop scene with vibrant songs of youth and whimsy. You may have heard their bigger hits — the soar ing “Archie, Marry Me” or the ethereal “Dreams Tonite” from Gomez’s video — coursing out the speakers of a café, in your friend’s dorm room or at last year’s Pomona Farm Fest, where the former was covered twice. A quiet five years have trundled by since their last record, the silence finally punctured a few months ago by the release of the first sin gle, “Pharmacist,” off their latest album, “Blue Rev,” which is out today, Oct. 7.

I listened to “Pharmacist” af ter work as I walked home from the train stop, the muggy July air like a heavy duvet on my long-air-conditioned shoulders. The song is about a chance runin: the kind that informs you that someone else, an old flame or estranged friend, is also back in your hometown. The sounds that crash in when the titular word is evoked a few seconds in — “I know you’re back / I saw your sister at the pharmacy” — are at once fuzzy and unshakable, like a wave drenching you in all its messy kinetic power. The rest of the nostalgic, shoegazey song of fers a cathartic jumble of melodic noise, all while retaining Alv vays’ familiar poppy punch. I re turned to my apartment buoyant, feeling as though something had

You can sense the vibrancy of Alvvays’ sound — a lather ing of synths and guitar and distortions — simply by look ing at their album art: hot hues of red and orange and the blue of an especially hot flame or an early-evening storm, idiosyn cratic expressions on throngs of people dressed in extrava gant costume and gazing upon something far away. To listen to Alvvays is to be a warm body among many others, to be a face searching and emoting from a crowd.

Produced by Shawn Everett, “Blue Rev” is pleasantly coher ent with Alvvays’ past work, if somewhat heavier and more blown out. Its making faced a deluge of disasters — sto len demos and flood-damaged equipment, as well as a pan demic that indefinitely separat ed their drummer from the rest of the band — forcing the band to continuously rebuild and re work the record. Lead vocalist Molly Rankin quarantined in her hometown of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia for much of its writing, and a longing to rein habit the island permeates the album.

Fittingly, then, and in the vein of their last two albums, Alvvays’ third engulfs listeners with the warm and prickly ten dencies of adolescence: fantasy and irony, intimacy and con straint. As before, their songs play on the dually quotidian and existential events and feel ings all too familiar to today’s youth: college loans and ankle sprains, desires to elope and reservations about marriage — all packaged in pulsing color.

The standout tracks on “Blue Rev” are its two lead singles, “Pharmacist” and “Easy On Your Own?” The latter builds in each chorus to a cry, with Rankin entreating the listener (or the one who has left her) for guidance: How does one live with an independence, a soli tude, unwittingly placed upon them?

If “Easy On Your Own?” is wrenching and climactic, “Af ter the Earthquake,” which di rectly follows, is a welcome re lease. Reminiscent of the joyful, sticky strings in “Lollipop (Ode

to Jim),” the song centers on a crumbling relationship amidst a crumbled landscape.

Alvvays’ signature bitter sweet flavor is not lost in “Blue Rev.” “Many Mirrors” is a hon eyed love song about what can feel like a miracle of surviving setbacks and the ruthless pas sage of time. “Now that we’ve passed these many mirrors / I can’t believe we’re still the same,” sings Rankin, perhaps alluding to the band’s own myr iad of struggles with putting together the album. On “Velve teen,” a wry and poignant an them, she manages to sound al most holy: “Is she a perfect 10? / Have you found Christ again?”

Certain moments in “Blue Rev” are particularly familiar. “Pomeranian Spinster” pays faithful tribute to Alvvays’ classically loud and upbeat songs, like “Hey” and “Plimsoll Punks,” while the reverberant,

choral “Lottery Noises” recalls both the quietude of “Already Gone” and, in one moment of pause, the spare, ringing melo dies of Fleet Foxes.

The album does, however, elide some of the strippeddown rumination of the band’s previous songs — “Forget About Life,” “Party Police” and “Ones Who Love You,” to name a few — which combined lucid melodic vocals with a pierc ing emotional tenderness. A few songs on the record begin tightly and end up inundated with new timbres, rendering Rankin’s precious vocals per haps a few layers too removed from the ear. Once steadfast above the sonic upheaval, her melody starts to get submerged in its surroundings.

But maybe this is the point: to douse yourself in the static, to stand in the eye of the storm, just as Alvvays did for the past

les, where he is able to build a community around documentary photography more successfully than in Claremont. Despite know ing that selling photography in the Pomona Valley may not be as successful, his exhibit in Cla remont is both a statement and act of defiance to this norm. His exhibit at Bunny Gunner is open until Oct. 27.

All of the exhibits featured in the Claremont Art Walk are open until the end of October 2022. The Claremont Art Walk occurs the first Saturday of ev ery month, so the next Art Walk may feature some new artists that come in from all over the Inland Empire and beyond. With a va riety of perspectives offered at each location, the Claremont Art Walk is a valuable opportunity to understand the history of our surrounding areas. By attending future Art Walks, students can tap into the rich vein of creativity that exists within the Inland Em pire and beyond.

half-decade’s crusade, gazing backward but ever moving for ward. Alvvays plunges forth, then, on “Blue Rev” into a more abrasive and ambitious sound, still effervescent and still true.

Five years ago, Marc Hogan wrote for Pitchfork that “Archie, Marry Me” “looked at eternity through the lens of the mundane.”

This same approach stands, with each new song first looking and then beginning to spin, around and around, eventually soaking eternity in a glorious, dizzying haze. We might dance to “Blue Rev,” cry to it, gaze out the win dow of a bus or ferry and disso ciate as the world rolls by, or turn inward and contemplate our own heart-strings. Best to do it all: to let the wave crash over us from head to toe.

Becky Zhang PO ’22.5 likes to listen to music, especially while in a mov ing vehicle.

LILA

Local galleries and artists of all different styles and mediums show off their pieces during the monthly claremont Art Walk.

Pomona, stop releasing poisons into Claremont’s ecosystem

JACOB LIGORRIA

Little black boxes became prominent figures on Pomona College’s campus prior to the start of classes this semester. De ployed in the name of pest con trol and found all over campus grounds, they are injecting poi sons into the urban ecosystem of Claremont and are threatening countless species that share our home in Southern California. These boxes might only be slight ly larger than a textbook, but they are part of a biocidal war waged against rodents. This systematic poisoning must stop if Pomona’s campus is to be sustainable.

These black bait boxes can be found on the ground alongside the walls of academic buildings, dining halls and dorms. They contain a poison called diphaci none that is meant to kill rats as a form of pest control. Diphaci none, an anticoagulant, leads to excessive bleeding and prevents clotting. When animals, like rats, consume the rodenticide, they bleed to death internally.

This poison kills rats and serves its purpose of reducing rodent populations, but its unin tended consequences outweigh the benefits: Anticoagulants like diphacinone do not kill animals immediately. Poisoned rats can survive up to two weeks before they ultimately succumb to the lethal toxin.

While the rodent is living on borrowed time — and even after it dies — diphacinone is still ac tive: The poison still has the ca pacity to kill. If a predator like a hawk, coyote or bobcat consumes a rat that has anticoagulants in its system, the toxins move their way into that wild animal and the broader ecosystem. In fact, diphacinone has been found in mountain lions living in South ern California, as well as in their fetal cubs.

Every time a predator eats a rat tainted with poison, poison is transferred to that predator — a process called biomagnification. Biomagnification occurs when

concentrations of contaminants build up in predators that con sume repeated doses of chemi cals and accumulate more tox ins in their bodies than their prey can sustain.

This is the very phenomenon Rachel Carson discussed and campaigned against in her book “Silent Spring,” which chroni cled the dangers of superfluous chemical use and has become nearly synonymous with en vironmentalism in the United States. The book was published 60 years ago last month, yet we are still using poisons without considering the broader envi ronmental impacts today, even at a liberal arts college that sup posedly teaches its students to think critically in all aspects of life.

After ingesting enough poi son over its lifetime, predators

as heavy as 200 pounds, such as mountain lions, may even tually succumb to the roden ticides themselves. Predators are found dead with detectable concentrations of the toxins in their tissues. In the time it takes for these predators to die from repeated and persistent poison ing, they may travel vast dis tances; think about how far and fast a hawk or owl can fly.

The poisons are carried along for the ride and enter eco systems otherwise far removed from the Claremont Colleges. When these animals die, scav engers feed on the highly con taminated tissues and the cycle begins anew.

In terms of pest control, yes, anticoagulant poisons do suc ceed in killing rats. However, they also kill the species that naturally keep rodent popu

Don’t sell yourself short: Apply to study abroad

ANNA TOLKIEN

It’s January 2020, and I’m scroll ing through my Gmail inbox of spam and homework. As I opened the Claremont Global Education email, my eyes widened. The idea of studying abroad in England for a whole semester excited me — I knew I wanted to apply.

However, the people around me initially responded negatively to this idea. My friends asked if we would lose touch. My parents asked how I’d navigate this new education system and learn to live in a foreign country. While these questions are valid, they can come across as unsupportive and dis couraging for students considering studying abroad.

Upon my acceptance into the program, I was absolutely thrilled. I remember jumping out of bed and taking a fast walk around cam pus. My hands shook as I called everyone I knew about the big news. I obviously already knew that I wanted to go, and I knew that I had accomplished something huge. But still, I had doubts. Did I need a visa? How would I explain to my friends at Claremont McK enna College that I was going to spend six months in another coun try? And was I making a mistake, especially since I had already spent my first year of college online?

However, all my concerns have been alleviated by the amazing support systems the Claremont Colleges have to offer students who want to study abroad. The Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA) helped me figure out how to renew my British passport and offered support if I needed to apply for a student visa. They also created a

financial plan, a COVID-19 nav igation plan and an orientation program for my arrival. When I got the chance to visit Oxford over the summer, I was so thank ful that IFSA had connected me to such a dynamic learning com munity.

In terms of social connection, my friends and family ultimately have been unbelievably support ive of my decision. My friends re alized that we can keep in touch through social media, WhatsApp and Zoom. They have also come to see this as an experience that will allow me to take risks and push myself out of my comfort zone.

If you desire to explore an other country, studying abroad provides a safe, supportive way to do so while allowing you to still stay on track to graduate. If I decide to move abroad after grad uation, it would be much harder to navigate challenging situations without the experience of a study abroad program.

I wanted to get some feedback from peers who are currently studying abroad. While I can share my experiences with the application process and prepar ing for the trip, I don’t have direct experience of living abroad yet.

I reached out to Kenneth Owusu CM ’24 who is currently studying in Berlin, Germany to provide some insight.

“Well, there’s only so much discovery that can happen in the city of trees and PhDs,” he said.

“When you study abroad you get to rediscover yourself three or more times — pre-abroad you will be different from abroad you and that you will be different from post-abroad you.”

To get another perspective, I asked Annabelle Duflock CM ’24, who is studying in Grana da, Spain about her experience.

“I can’t recommend studying abroad enough — it’s challeng ing at times but so worth it,” she said. “The world is big and we should take a chance to see it.”

Clearly, these are living tes taments to how life-changing and valuable study abroad can be. Of course, it is scary for friends and family to pic ture their loved one moving to another side of the world. Un consciously, I think this might be why they can initially be discouraging. However, upon your acceptance I guarantee their tone will shift when they actually are confronted with the reality of what they are asking you to give up by staying close to home.

We have lost so much to COVID-19, and we shouldn’t let it take away our opportuni ty to travel the world when we have the opportunities to do so safely and supportively. If the pandemic taught me anything, it was that nothing should be taken for granted.

If you feel passionate and drawn to studying abroad, please listen to your gut. Don’t let anxiety or fear of the un known stop you from applying. Our college years are some of the most formative of our lives, and I implore you to take every chance to broaden your hori zons and grow as an individual.

Anna Tolkien CM ’24 is a litera ture and film dual major. She loves her pugs, creative writing and iced coffee.

lations in check. This not only reduces the diversity of species in the area surrounding the 5Cs but also counteracts the ulti mate aim of controlling rodent populations. As rat predators die off, more and more poisons will need to be purchased to compensate for the loss of free and natural rodent control.

There are other methods of limiting rodent populations. Rodent traps use mechanical methods such as springs or pressurized pistons to instantly and humanely dispatch indi vidual rats. These kinds of traps avoid leaching toxic chemicals into the surrounding ecosystem and refuse to prolong rodent suffering before an ultimate death.

While these traps may cost more than poisons, they are re usable and serve a higher pur

pose of fulfilling Pomona’s sus tainability goals. Pomona wishes to “construct, operate, and main tain efficient buildings and out door venues to create healthy spaces and minimize environ mental impact.” This is not the case when it comes to controlling rodents. How can the college be minimizing its impact on the en vironment when one building alone — such as the one which houses Frary — can have five or more boxes distributing poisons?

Actively poisoning the envi ronment when viable alterna tives that minimize ecological impacts are readily available is outrageously contradictory to the school’s stated goals. The school also reports that it is “emphasiz ing natural methods of pest and weed control instead of applying chemicals (including pesticides)” despite zealously dispensing tox ic pesticides that reduce the pop ulations of natural predators.

In “Silent Spring,” Carson says “we stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth super highway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.”

It is crucial that students know how a “sustainable” campus like Pomona is approaching rodent control. As members of the Po mona community, we are the ones that must choose whether we will enable a leading institution to utilize toxic methods of rodent control, or if we will do better by using sustainable alternatives.

Guest writer Jacob Ligorria PO ’23 is studying biology and geology, focus ing on ecology and conservation. He and many others are working toward a world in which poisons no longer destroy local ecosystems and eagerly await the day Pomona decides to ban them on the school’s campus.

GerrIt PUNt•

Why you shouldn’t succumb to pre-professional pressure

The thin line between curiosity and microaggressions

SHAY SURESH their culture.

A couple of years ago, at Golden Gate Park in San Fran cisco, I became aware of how my skin color doubled as a conver sation starter. My cousins and I, all of brown skin, were perusing the area when we saw a city res ident out for a run. He waved, to which we waved back, and asked us where we were from.

This question triggered an un concious, natural response: “I’m from San Jose, California, born and raised.” The runner smirked, quirked his head and asked, “No, where are you real ly from?”

I tend to trick myself into thinking that an insensitive question or comment is a dis play of harmless curiosity. If a friendly, kind person wants to know something about me, I au tomatically assume that they de serve a friendly, kind response.

For a large portion of my life, I neglected to entertain the idea that there is indeed a fundamen tal difference between curiosity and microaggressions. There’s a difference between innocence and ignorance.

What I did take a critical issue with, however, was the gap in un derstanding. When I asked where they thought my family was from, I was told by fellow students that they “don’t see color.” Said with a self-important tone, the declara tion of my peers’ supposed feat felt more like a colossal loss. I started to comprehend that people mask their discomfort with apathy, and as a result, demonstrate salient micro aggressive behavior.

It does seem, sometimes, that people of color cannot really win. To some, I am too brown to be “Amer ican,” and to others, the erasure of my identity is easier to digest than the intricacy of it. Questions are too invasive and comments too oblivi ous.

Still, the responsibility to create a more inclusive picture of “Ameri can-ness” falls on white Americans, not people of color. Solutions are broad, but worth it for the sake of your peers and your greater com munity. Prioritize the comfort of your friends with intersectional identities when you initiate conver sations.

scrolling through my com puter when yet another email notification pops up: “APPLY SOON! The deadline for another consulting club is approaching!”

Even though I’m not an eco nomics major myself, my curios ity about these pre-professional opportunities is aroused. When frequently bombarded by glori ous club advertisements and in cessant deadline reminders, it’s hard to not feel persuaded.

VIVIAN WANG Streaks of imposter syn drome sometimes hit us: You feel everyone around you is constantly working, and that you’re the odd one out because you don’t seem as determined in what you do. However, this is a false notion. No external factors should determine how you ac knowledge your own capabili ties. You are not lagging behind. In fact, you should be marching to the beat of your own drum and not concerning yourself with other student’s interests and extracurriculars at all.

This is as busy a time as ever for “APPLY SOON!” emails; as the new semester kicks into full swing, 5C clubs and student or ganizations become alive again.

Among them are pre-profession al clubs: organizations where stu dents, no matter their class year, submit elaborate applications in response to the essay prompts and practical questions given.

The most popular pre-profes sional organizations are the Cla remont Consulting Group (CCG) and the Student Investment Fund (SIF). The former is Claremont McKenna College-exclusive while the latter is open to all 5Cs.

The clubs have a reputation for being hard to get into and, by as sociation, being “prestigious.”

This process can be an import ant rehearsal for the cutthroat competitiveness of the financial industry in real life. It also draws unhealthy and unnecessary as pects of that field into college life. Regardless, it’s here to stay; and so, when applications come around, it’s crucial that we know how to handle rejection wisely.

You haven’t applied to any pre-professional clubs? Noth ing to worry about. Pre-profes sional clubs are not an intrinsic part of college life; they can be part of someone’s college life just as easily as not. Some enjoy getting prepared for a future career, and others might want to spend a few more years con centrating on academics or just exploring interests — and that’s exactly how it should be.

You understand your own passion better than I do. If go ing pre-professional at such an early age is not your thing, then don’t do it. Try out other clubs and organizations that you feel connected to, such as activism, sports, outdoor activ ities, etc. Whether competitive or noncompetitive, creative or analytical, indoors or outdoors, all clubs and organizations are meaningful for your future as long as you derive joy and learn from them.

If you do go the pre-profes sional route, don’t be too frus

trated by rejection. Random ness and luck are at play often just as much as skill and expe rience.

Handling rejection more thoughtfully is as much about personal reflection as it is about social conversation. These clubs are often as com petitive and stress-inducing as we make them out to be. Much of the time, conversations sur rounding this topic wind up amounting to one student im plicitly pressuring another.

It’s normal to ask class mates what clubs they applied for, how they feel about the essay prompts and problems and how they felt their inter views went; what we need to not make normal is asking classmates about their appli cation results and/or reacting dramatically to their response. Or, even better, talk about something else altogether, like movies, books or music, to name a few topics. After all, pre-professional clubs are about the future — and you are living in the present, in sunny California, with your friends.

Most of all, normalize the fact that nobody knows what they’re doing and where they are going and that it’s healthy to not be actively working to wards your professional fu ture at all times.

Vivian Wang CM ’26 is from Wu han, China. She recently started heel dancing and is loving it. Her favorite musical is Rent.

In San Francisco, the runner’s question was not pure curiosity as much as it was “othering.”

Asking an American person of color where they are really from reinforces a false, racist notion that to be American is to be white. This definition implies that all non-white Americans are “aliens,” or foreigners. The runner’s question, however un intentional or intentional, was ostracizing and demoralizing to my concept of identity.

Ignorance is all around us, even at a self-declared “progres sive” liberal arts college in Cal ifornia. Coming to Claremont McKenna College, I was told multiple times by several of my peers that they did not know what my ethnicity was. This was not an issue with me — I am proud of where my family comes from, their traditions and

Instead of asking me where I’m really from, ask me who I am; a simple “tell me about yourself” lets me guide you towards territory that is safe for me, territory that I feel se cure breaching with you. Instead of telling me you “do not see color,” intentionally and intently listen to me talk about my experiences as a person of color. Allow yourself to know more instead of being com placent in knowing less.

If you are a student on this cam pus who has possibly initiated in sensitive dialogue, know that there is opportunity to become more aware. Take on the challenge of ed ucating yourself on respectful con versation instead of making your friends feel obligated to navigate them. Diversity should be as im portant a lived experience for me as it is a learning experience for you.

Shay Suresh CM ’24 is from San Jose, California. She loves literary fiction, in die music and browsing Pinterest.

Lipa

eMMA JeNSeN• tHe StUDeNt LIFe

At the 5 c s, it’s easy to feel pressure to join pre-professional clubs – but don’t give into to it, writes Vivian Wang c M ’26.

ASYA LYUbAVINA• tHe StUDeNt LIFe

CMS intramural futsal kicks off fall season

At approximately 9:45 p.m. on a Tuesday night, most students are in their dorms or at the library, hud dled over tomorrow’s readings. But a handful of students will be head ing to Roberts Pavilion for a 32-min ute match of intramural futsal.

In futsal, two teams of four face each other on a pitch with one goal on either side. Like soccer, players use their feet to move the ball, and the object is to net the most goals. But unlike soccer, futsal is played on a basketball court, making the game more fast-paced. The hard surface and smaller, heavier ball moves quicker and therefore requires more footwork to control.

For Sophia Saunders SC ’26, sign ing up for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps co-ed intramural futsal was a way to bond with friends while enjoying a game they love. Saunders created a team that consists of her roommates and other friends.

The team chose its name based on the residence halls they live in — but with a twist.

“It’s called ‘Rankle,’” Saunders said. “It’s the cross between Frankel and Routt, which are the dorms that we live in.”

Rankle member Nia Carroll SC ’26 played futsal in middle school and joined because she wanted to reconnect with the game.

“Most people say ‘Froutt’ when they say Frankel and Routt,” Carroll said. “But we were like, ‘We don’t wanna make [the name ‘Froutt’] our own, so let’s just do it reverse.’”

Rankle’s team members change almost every game, with most members hailing from Scripps. The roster may change more through out the regular season before play offs, when the team becomes set.

“Sometimes we’ll just talk about it, and someone might be like, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’ and we’ll be like, ‘Join the team!’ and then they will, which is fun,” Carroll said.

Rankle originally wanted to play in the intramural women’s futsal

league, but since they were the only registered women’s team, they were forced to play in the co-ed league, which consists of six teams.

Before the season started, Car roll said the team was nervous to put themselves out there but be gan to have more fun with their first game under their belt.

“I feel like, before the first game, we were all extremely ner vous,” she said. “... Everyone was … like, ‘I don’t want to go,’ and then afterwards, it was kind of like a 360 [degree turn] — like ‘We’re so excited for the next one.’”

Returning to futsal has been nostalgic for both Carroll and Saunders.

“I feel like there was a large portion of us [on the team] that have played futsal before,” Car

roll said. “That was kind of funny because I feel like it’s not super common. I don’t play soccer any more, but I played futsal in middle school … I did not expect to see it again.”

League referee Taylor Nelson SC ’25 said she was drawn to futsal out of a love of soccer and a desire to approach sports differ ently.

“I’ve always been into sports, so I thought it might be fun to participate in them in a new way,” Nelson said. “I played soccer all through high school, so I was glad to be officiating for [a] sport that I already felt familiar with … [Ref ereeing] has definitely made me feel some sympathy for the many refs I’ve had in soccer over the years.”

While Rankle does not take its

Sixty-seven years in, Sagehens’ football could be en route to two football titles

games too seriously, there are oth er teams in the co-ed league who do, according to Saunders.

“The guys really like to take it very, very seriously,” Saun ders said, “and I’m kind of like, ‘Simmer down, you’re playing in an intramural league against first-years, like, you need to take it easy.’ I think that [as] first year Scripps girls, [we] go in knowing that we’re losing almost every sin gle time, so we really do just mess around.”

Nelson agreed that the overall culture of the league is laid-back, with a few exceptions.

“The culture in both the coed and men’s leagues is generally re ally good,” Nelson said. “... There are some very competitive and skilled teams — particularly in the men’s league — and their games

always have the potential to get a little rowdy.” The score on the board at the end of a match is not the only measure of points a team earns, though.

“We have to give each team a sportsmanship score from one to four after their games,” Nelson said, “[but] it’s rare for me to mark down anything less than four.”

Rankle focuses on having fun, regardless of the points they earn.

“I think that it’s just fun to play together and do something that we wouldn’t normally do … and even just having a little bit of competi tion,” Carroll said.

Rankle played its last game of the regular season on Sunday at Roberts Pavilion. They won the match 8-5. Depending on upcoming game results, they will advance to the playoffs later in the semester.

Men’s water polo shoots for second trophy in a row

No SCIAC water polo team has ever won two national cham pionships in recorded history. This season, however, Pomo na-Pitzer’s men’s team aims to do just that.

The Sagehens are off to a promising 3-1 start in SCIAC play following their Division III National Championship title last year, with wins against Cal Lutheran and La Verne. These victories come just after a rigor ous preseason, which included games against high-level Divi sion I teams such as USC and Pepperdine.

Co-captain Alex Peterson PO ’24 appreciates the tough compe tition against DI teams, as it has given P-P an advantage over oth er SCIAC teams who had a less competitive preseason. Howev er, it also meant the athletes had to dedicate their fall semester to frequent games and practices.

Although he could have chosen to play with people his age on the club team, the varsity team has chal lenged him to play with a more ex perienced group.

“When I first arrived as a firstyear, I was playing with fully de veloped men,” Ryan said. “It just seems that everyone’s faster, bigger, stronger and smarter. It was very in timidating at first, but I was able to do well by playing hard and perse vering.”

A significant component of the team’s success is bridging the com munication gap between head coach Alex Rodriguez and the players. This is one of Peterson’s primary roles alongside his co-captain Sam Sasaki PO ’25. The two communi cate scheduling changes with the team, voice concerns to the coach ing staff, run warmups and handle equipment setup and cleanup.

Peterson and the other seniors also manage relationships within the team, which can be especially difficult given the team’s passionate mentality.

In 1955, Cecil was fresh out of his egg, Harvey Mudd College was founded and Pomona-Claremont won its third consecutive confer ence championship. In the 67 years since, Pomona College athletics broke up with Claremont McKen na College, got together with Pitzer College and has not once ascended to the SCIAC football throne.

Now, the Sagehens have the potential to do something no alum under the age of 80 has seen. Po mona-Pitzer (P-P) football just played its first conference game of the season, but a decisive victory over Chapman may have already clinched them the SCIAC.

The Sagehens soundly defeated the Pumas 31-17 Saturday, picking up their first conference win (1-0) and fourth overall (4-1).

The win solidified the Sagehens’ statistical standing as the SCIAC’s second-best offense and defense by yards and points. This dominance on both sides of the ball was best displayed two weeks ago in their 59-0 rout of Whittier. While the team has put up a fantastic offen sive output so far, it has been their defense that has consistently won them games.

In their win over Chapman, the Sagehens stifled the conference’s No.1 ranked offense, holding the Pumas to their lowest point and yard totals of the season by far.

P-P’s defense is built around a hard-nosed presence at the line of scrimmage, halting offenses before they get going.

Five Sagehens have recorded four or more tackles for a loss, including linebacker George Cutting PO ’25 with seven. No oth er school has more than three such players. Additionally, with three of the sacks leaderboard’s top 10 players, P-P holds the most of any team.

The win over the Pumas should dissolve any question about how the Sagehens’ defense will continue to perform throughout the season.

Their only upcoming opponent that comes close to Chapman’s level of offensive production is Cal Lutheran, but they played most of their games against out-of-confer ence opponents and weak SCIAC defenses. This is a championship level defense defined by consisten cy and a dominant cohesiveness that will have opposing offensive coordinators breaking clipboards on a regular basis.

Nevertheless, the P-P offense should be placed under greater scrutiny. Although the team’s stats put it in conversation as one of the conference’s best, sustainability is the question of the day. The Sage hens’ offensive game plan has been walking on ice since game one: not so thin that they are about to fall in, but slippery enough to take a tumble.

Since the award’s inception in 2004, only two players from P-P have won the SCIAC Offensive Player of the Year award. This year could very well see their third with quarterback Skylar Noble PZ ’23. A converted running back, Noble thrives on his feet. Through de signed plays, options and heads up scrambles, Noble has run rampant on defenses toward seven rushing touchdowns and 408 yards, good for first and third in the SCIAC respectively. His performance has earned him 200 more yards on the ground than the player in fourth, the same difference between num bers four and 46.

But the name of his game is reckless abandon, as Noble has never met a linebacker or defen sive back he is not willing to take a hit from. This has not shown any repercussions yet, with No ble scoring twice with his legs

against Chapman, but as the hits pile up over the next five games he may start to stall by the time takes on the top defense Clare mont-Mudd-Scripps in the sea son’s finale. The Sagehens need Noble’s run game in order for their offense to maintain its cur rent level. If he is demobilized, the passing game will suffer im mensely.

Even though, statistically, Noble backs up his running game with an aerial attack, sit ting at third in passing yards and touchdowns, his skill set is limited, struggling with the deep ball. Much of his passing yards come after the catch as a product of a fantastic wide receiver room led by Quinten Wimmer PZ ’25 and Ryan Rosumny PO ’25, who both land in the top six in yards per game.

Noble’s legs have opened the field to allow Wimmer and company to do their magic, but without them, his inability to throw the ball downfield would severely hinder P-P’s offensive game plan.

To strike a more optimistic chord, the Sagehens’ offensive line has made major improve ments over the course of the season. After allowing 11 sacks in the first three games of the season, including six against Pacific University alone, they buckled down over the past two games, giving up just one. These may have been against weaker defenses, but the pressure they have taken off Noble certainly showed in his performance ver sus Chapman.

The Sagehens may have as sembled a championship-caliber team, but the outcome of their season will come to how they show up on the field from here on out.

“I think our primary team strength is how committed to the sport we are,” Peterson said. “We sacrifice a lot of time in hopes of having a successful and reward ing season.”

Left side attacker and center Jack Ryan PZ ’25 felt confident about the team’s preseason per formance against these “power house teams.” This season, he is looking to build a strong culture within the team.

“This was an amazing chance to welcome our large freshman class,” Ryan said. “It feels like I have 20 brothers that I get to spend my time with.”

While Ryan said the team feels like a “second family,” he added that adjusting to the colle giate level has been a challenge.

“We are a group of hyper-com petitive individuals, and this can lead to some high emotion moments in practices and games,” Peterson said. “This is something we are working on limiting to maintain a cohesive and positive team environ ment.”

While the ultimate goal is to win another National Championship, Peterson said being part of the team is just as fulfilling.

“Of course, competing and win ning is rewarding for me, but being able to build unique relationships with quality individuals is my favor ite part of being on the team,” Peter son said. “We all chose to compete for this team out of the love we share for the sport and I think that makes this program special.”

Defensive lineman Mark Carling PZ ’23 flexes after a big defensive play while linebacker Thomas McConnell PO ’25 looks on.

cOUrteSY: POMONA-PItZer AtHLetIcS

ANJALI NUGGEHALLI

eMMA JeNSeN• tHe StUDeNt LIFe

Sophia Tuncer CM ’26 dribbles past opponents during a match in Roberts Pavilion.

5C

Climbing helps students of all levels reach new heights

What comes to mind first when you think of climbing? Extreme daredevils performing danger ously steep climbs? Treacherous outdoor terrain where you can barely find a hold? The 5C Climb ing Team seeks to make more beginner-friendly opportunities within reach.

Founded by Laurel Melton PZ ’20, a former climber for Team USA, the 5C Climbing Team is back for its fourth season this year. Since then, the team has es tablished a tight-knit and diverse community, meeting multiple times a week to ensure their skill set continues to grow.

Bella Jariel HM ’23 is a captain of the team and said that despite the relatively high commitment level, previous experience is not required to join.

“We have practice on Mon days, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Hangar 18 gyms together,” Jariel said. “We don’t require that you have any experience with climbing. The only thing we want is people who are motivated and who will consistently show up to practice with a good attitude ready to climb.”

Georgia Klein HM ’24 joined last year and is back for her sec ond season.

“I really appreciate having more structured strength and technique building during our practices,” Klein said.

The climbing team main ly practices indoor bouldering, which does not require a rope. Because the walls are shorter and pads under the wall cushion the climbers’ falls, it is considered a safer form of climbing. Addition ally, the team is able to socialize better while bouldering because it requires more than one partner.

“It’s a lot of fun because I feel like it’s much more social than the other types of climbing because you can climb in a larger group, and while you’re not on the wall, you can chat with people a lot more because you’re not climbing with just one other partner,” Jariel said.

Co-captain Oscar Morrison PZ ’25 said that bouldering is the best form of climbing to ease new climbers into the sport.

“Most people would want to start out with bouldering when it comes to climbing,” Morrison said. “We also encourage people to, of course, try some new tech niques on their own and practice on top of the bouldering we do.

But, for now, we’re only boulder ing.”

Not confident in your stone-scaling skills? Jariel be lieves climbing is a sport peo ple of all skill levels can enjoy. She also said that new members should not be stressed since the team environment is relaxed.

“Anyone with any experi ence can have fun in the gym and climb together, regardless of your ability,” Jariel said. “If you just started climbing, it’s super easy for you to just go to the gym with us and pick it up and learn along with people that have been climbing for years on end.”

Klein said she enjoys the di versity of skill levels of the team, noting that she can learn from everyone.

“I really like getting to climb with other people, and through the team I can go with people who are working on the same things as I am, as well as people of all different skill levels,” she said.

Fear of heights and common misconceptions about the real ity of climbing can easily scare off many prospective members. Jariel said she believes it is im portant to debunk these miscon ceptions and acknowledge that climbing is not always what is shown in movies and the media.

“You can choose the level of risk that you want to accept when you’re climbing. For the most part, I think it’s relatively safe,” Jariel said. “It’s just going to be just hanging out with your friends and working on climbs that push you but aren’t neces sarily like those [big] feats that most people think of when they think of ‘Free Solo’ or other ma jor blockbuster climbing movies. In order to dispel these miscon ceptions, it just takes them going to the climbing gym and seeing what it’s like.”

Morrison said that fear of fail ure can be a climber’s biggest ob stacle in getting better.

“My biggest piece of advice in this mobility quandary is don’t be afraid of failure,” he said. “It is very normal, and I think some people can be scared of the act of falling or failure, but you literal ly cannot get better at climbing unless you fail.”

Klein echoed her teammates’ advice and emphasized the ben efits of simply showing up.

“For starting out climbing, it just matters that you show up and climb, this will help you gain experience,” Klein said.

“Talk to other people and people with more experience than you. Oftentimes, you might learn a new technique or skill to help finish a difficult climb.”

Morrison said that although the team is relatively relaxed, members do hold each other to standards of commitment.

“We have expectations for ourselves and anyone else around us, and we hold every one accountable,” He said. “If we notice that someone hasn’t come into a lot of practices, then we do take action on that and check in.”

Morrison boasted about the

great comradery of the 5CClimb ing Team that helps create a wel coming social environment.

“It’s a wonderful community of people who want to be around other people,” He said. “Every one is striving towards a common goal of improving their climbing skills.”

Athletes of the Week

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

Advik Mareedu

HMC ’26

Yorba Linda, CA

Men’s Tennis

Advik Mareedu HMC ’26 stood out in last weekend’s tennis tournament and took home the medal for the Stags. Mareedu won the ITA West Singles last weekend at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center here in Claremont. He went the entire tournament without dropping a single set. His performance earned him All-American honors, making him the first Harvey Mudd College stu dent to win this since 2006. This win ning-streak is not new for Maredu, who was rated as a 5-star tennis recruit in high school, and was also ranked 64th nationally for his class. After the win in this tournament, Mareedu, along with two other Stags, will travel to the ITA Cup in Rome, GA in mid-October to compete for a national title.

Pomona-Pitzer

Chloe Gill

PO ’25

Oak Park, IL

Women’s volleyball

Chloe Gill PO ’25 led the Sagehens women’s volleyball team to a longfought victory on the road against La Verne last weekend. The game went on for five sets, with the Sagehens winning the second, third and final set. Gill stood out as the star attacker, earning 19 kills for her team with a 0.333 clip. After the Leopards won the first set, Gill came out strong in the second, helping the Sage hens take that set 25-18. She stayed strong throughout the course of the match, and was a vital reason why the Sagehens came out victorious. Though she is only a sophomore, her leadership served as an example for the whole team. With this win, the Sagehens are now 4-1 in the confer ence, and 9-4 overall.

ANNA cHOI • tHe StUDeNt LIFe

Club member Claire Chang HM ’23 boulders up a wall during a meeting.