Hi Claremont!
We’re The Student Life, the weekly student newspaper of the Claremont Colleges since 1889. You’ve probably seen our name around campus, whether on a physical paper, a newspaper stand, an Instagram post or in a group chat.
But even if you haven’t seen or read us before — welcome! We would like to talk to you.
TSL is entirely made by students across the consortium, with no outside editorial influence. That means the people writing about campus are also the people staying up too late in the library, arguing about whether or not the Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons is the best dining hall, going to club meetings, missing deadlines, discovering new bands, changing majors, joining their first protest, creating art, watching sports games and figuring out what it means to be a student at the Claremont Colleges.
I first joined TSL in the second semester of my first year. I had a rough first semester, struggling to locate my identity as an international student in Claremont and wanting to make sense of that experience. I was grateful to have a space where I could develop those ideas as a columnist in TSL’s Arts & Culture section. What began as a desire to express my emotions gradually evolved into using my global identity as a lens through which to examine broader topics: cross-cultural perspectives, ethnic traditions, mental health and interpersonal relationships. That exploration eventually became what is now my column, “Rooted and Restless.”
My time at TSL has taught me how flexible and imaginative working for this student newspaper can be; it’s also given me the opportunity to write for a readership made up of friends, professors and members of the broader campus community. This experience has allowed me to contribute to TSL’s mission of painting a full picture of campus life — in a consortium shaped by the countless and varied perspectives and stories that each Claremont student brings.
This year, we want our newsroom to look and feel like the campus we cover.
That means we want to talk to the student who has never written an article before; the person who has a very specific topic they’re obsessed with; the person who has always wanted to make documentaries but never had the chance; the person who has an opinion they can’t stop talking about; the person who thinks journalism sounds intimidating.
And yes, we want you!
TSL is a space for writers, creatives, journalists and all 5C students to come together and create the paper of record for our community. Our goals are ambitious, and so is our team: We aim to hold power accountable, create community, uplift voices and to be a forum for campus discourse.
In order to accomplish these goals, we have 15 different desks and a variety of ways to contribute to our mission. You can join a section, write one story, send us a Letter to the Editor, create a photo essay, illustrate and create graphic art, join our business associates or pitch us something we haven’t thought of yet. You don’t need to know exactly what you’re doing before you walk through the door; we’ll figure it out with you.
We are constantly striving to improve our relationship with the people and organizations that make up the 5Cs. If your club is putting on an event, your community is discussing something important or there’s an issue you think we should be paying attention to, contact us. We can’t cover a campus we aren’t listening to.
Most importantly, we don’t want to simply write about the 5Cs. We want to make a newspaper with the people who live here. And when we make mistakes, we welcome efforts to hold us accountable so that we can continue to grow as a newspaper and as a community.
So whether you’ve been reading TSL for years or have never opened an issue, consider this an invitation.
Come write with us. Come disagree with us. Come tell us what we’re missing.
We’ll see you around campus!
Rochelle Lu SC ’28 is from Shanghai and Taiwan. She is the DEI & Outreach Director this Fall; she also hopes to continue authoring “Rooted & Restless” in spite of the frazzling whirlwind that is junior year.
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