“On the night of April 17, 1993, when I was a student at Pomona College, Travis Landry raped me. It has taken me 33 years to say his name,” Paulina González-Brito writes. González-Brito first publicly named Landry in an Oct. 4, 2026 social media post. In this opinion article, she details her experiences with Landry, Pomona and the District Attorney’s Office. “I was a second-year student at Pomona, class of 1995. [Landry] had been admitted to Pomona and was visiting as a prospective student during the college’s admitted students weekend. I never made it to 1995, dropping out soon after he raped me,” González-Brito writes.
Opinions
OPINION: The ‘Cornell 7’ exposes that Title IX systems will not protect us — even at the 5Cs
Outlining the policies that govern college responses to misconduct, Brinkman Schooler draws a connection from Cornell University to the 5Cs, including recent 2019 and 2025 allegations of misconduct within the CMS swim and dive team.
OPINION: A presidential hit job: Latinos aren’t scared of you, Trump
On October 5, 2026, Donald Trump put a hit on Los Angeles and San Diego. Elena Gutierrez PZ ’27 is a Mexican American who knows exactly what he means. Trump’s statement comes as ICE raids spike in specific Southern California cities, and Gutierrez writes that those trends, backed by his track record of anti-Latino sentiment and policy, are deliberately intentional.
OPINION: I like bad books and you should too
Amid a literacy crisis and shockingly low rates of young adults who’ve opened a book in the past year, Calli Taffel PZ ’30 writes that the best way to reverse that trend is to remove the stigma around reading bad books. Whether smutty fantasy or a predictable romcom, Taffel says you can still get the benefits of reading regardless of content.
OPINION: Let’s talk about politics (again)
Makayla Tracy PZ ’30 argues that amid the 5Cs’ culture of deep political engagement, choosing to stay neutral in some political conversations should always be justified. Without the ability to step back from often-heated political discourse, one can fall into the trap of taking a side before having time to form a nuanced thought.
OPINION: EA policy should have a writing and rhetoric learning objective
Luca Davis PZ ‘27 is an Environmental Analysis major on the policy track who proposes a new curriculum change: a writing and rhetoric learning objective. For an interdisciplinary major at a liberal arts college, Davis thought writing would come naturally, but for a field that requires rhetorical scrutiny and articulate argumentation, the lack of intense writing has been puzzling and hindering.
OPINION: Did yesterday’s march truly support Jane Doe?
In light of a lawsuit filed by former Cornell University student identified as Jane Doe against seven fraternity students, Aria Wang PO ’27 writes about the rally against sexual assault on Oct. 8, which attempted to display solidarity with Jane Doe. She situates the rally within institutional constraints, arguing that demandless action without adequate input from survivors on future care and resistance can often fall short.
In response to Elena Gutierrez’ Oct. 1 OPINION: Holding a grudge is a sign of maturity
In “Holding a grudge is a sign of maturity” (October 1, 2026), Elena Gutierrez makes a fair point: students should not feel pressured to hide their hurt or forgive someone who has made no effort to repair a relationship. I also appreciate her clarification that she is defending boundaries rather than unnecessary resentment.
OPINION: One man’s ‘deadly comedy’ is another’s ‘virtuous terror’
Akshay Seetharam HM ’27 responds to a prior TSL opinion piece arguing against memeification by claiming that mockeries are a vital and enduring part of liberal democracy.
OPINION: Behind the gymfluencer curtain
Kira Heller SC ’29 applies renowned sociologist Erving Goffman’s theory of the “front stage” and “back stage” to the way gym influencers present themselves on social media. She argues that these creators construct carefully curated images to attract followers while concealing the realities behind the screen, creating a misleading perception of what their fitness lifestyles actually look like.