When it comes to meal plans, Scripps students pay more for less, but Malott is no Fort Knox: Many choose to resist this perceived injustice by simply not paying for dinner, walking past cashiers with someone else’s plates. As tensions rise between students and staff, Nicole Teh SC ’27 believes that a mutually beneficial solution exists, but only if we learn to empathize with Malott staff.
Author: Nicole Teh
OPINION: Under media oligarchy, TikTok isn’t the problem
TikTok is far from popular, and as Trump cozies up with the app’s CEO, it’s easy to accept its ban. However, Nicole Teh SC ’27 argues that its unique position to enact social change proves TikTok’s defensibility, and its removal might only exacerbate the perceived ills. The only way to fix its faults is with education.
OPINION: Every time you flake on a friend, capitalism wins
There’s no easier time to be a flake than in college. There’s always a different party or a new lunch invite to draw you away from your half-hearted commitments. However, to Nicole Teh SC ‘27, our flaking epidemic could sow the seeds of our undoing. To bring change to difficult times, we have always needed community, and that starts with being a good friend.
OPINION: A Swiftie’s “Picture To Burn”
Taylor Swift is many things to many people, but no one can deny her influence; her armies of die-hards seem ready to follow her to the ends of the earth. With great power should come responsibility, but to Nicole Teh SC ‘27, for whom Swift’s music will always conjure good memories, her actions seem more and more to represent something else.
OPINION: Your spring break destination isn’t really yours
Spring break trips to Hawaii may seem picture-perfect, but there lies a danger many tourists overlook. By reflecting on her touristic pursuit in Oahu, Nicole Teh SC ’27 discusses the ways tourism fuels displacement of local residents, drives up living costs and erodes native culture.
OPINION: Lunar New Year felt like it was my birthday and no one knew it
Imagine if you woke up on your birthday and waited with excitement for that first text from a friend or any recognition, only for nothing to happen. Imagine that feeling of erasure, invisibility. This was how Nicole Teh SC ’27 felt on Lunar New Year. Despite decoration and excitement abound, Teh felt unmoored from her culture and encountered a great hesitance to engage in celebration from her predominately white peers. Teh argues that cultural sensitivity has reached the point of cultural blindness and that we must be willing to authentically engage with the differing cultural and ethnic backgrounds we encounter.