To the editors,
Your article on the Claremont Independent reads less as journalism than as resentment. The Independent has accomplished what TSL has not: it has broken stories, documented misconduct and drawn national attention. Rather than engage with that record, you devoted an entire feature to implying that its success must be illegitimate. The tone is unmistakably jealous, the product of a publication whose relevance, put charitably, now exists mainly within a self-affirming campus circle.
You provide no evidence that The Independent has published false information. Your central claim is that conservative outlets have reposted its work, and from that you infer bias. That inference is false. The measure of reporting is factual accuracy, not the political identity of those who share it.
You also avoided the substance of The Independent’s reporting. The antisemitic incidents, firsthand accounts and administrative failures it exposed are all public record. You ignored them, preferring to build a story out of insinuation and association. That approach signals the insecurity of writers who cannot refute facts and therefore attack context.
It is especially troubling that one of this article’s co-authors, Sophie Myers, is simultaneously affiliated with Claremont Undercurrents, a publication currently under significant national scrutiny for promoting material that glorified violence against Jews and Israelis. That connection raises questions not only about conflicts of interest but about the editorial judgment of The Student Life itself. Any student journalist who helps produce or defend a platform implicated in such conduct has a professional and moral duty to explain that involvement publicly. Transparency is not optional; it is the baseline requirement for credibility in this context.
A more honest editorial would have admitted frustration at being outperformed by a rival publication. What you produced instead was institutional gatekeeping dressed as inquiry. It is a poor reflection of your training, your judgment and the standards of a campus that claims to value critical thinking.
This piece will remain part of your professional record. It is searchable and permanent, and future editors, employers and readers will see it for what it is. You may find that the audience you sought to impress will not respect the work you have produced.
Sincerely,
Daniel Ives PO ’84
A Pomona College alumnus
Editor’s note: After reviewing the Pomona College directory, TSL was unable to identify an alum with the name Daniel Ives.
TSL accepts submissions for guest pieces and letters to the editor from community members at tsl.news/submitor by email to editor@tsl.news.
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