The Student Life

Pomona College to host California gubernatorial debate: Here’s what to know

April 24, 2026 2:25 am Chloe Kiparsky 0

On Tuesday, April 28, Pomona College will host the first of four California gubernatorial debates in Bridges Auditorium. 5C students, faculty and administration eagerly anticipate the event, and student political organizations will put on related events such as watch parties and post-debate panels.

Only Pomona students were allowed to enter the selective ticket application to attend the debate in person, but student groups such as the Claremont College’s League of Women Voters (LWV) and 5C Democrats will host watch parties for others to engage in dialogue surrounding the debate.

CMC and Scripps join SoCal campaign for stricter gas boiler regulations

April 24, 2026 1:25 am Kahani Malhotra 0

Claremont McKenna College and Scripps College passed resolutions this month to support phasing out large industrial gas boilers in Southern California.

Jaden Yang PO ’28 and Clarissa Aquino PZ ’26 have led the charge at the 5Cs to pass student resolutions on gas boilers. The end goal of the campaign is to convince the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), a government agency that oversees air quality standards, to phase out the use of medium to large-sized boilers across Southern California.

They hope to get all 5Cs to support the resolution by the end of April, so they can show full support for shifting away from gas boilers at the SCAQMD’s next board meeting on May 1.

Student organizations collaborate to push Metro U-Pass initiative

April 24, 2026 12:20 am Carys Hardy 0

The 7C Transportation Working Group is developing a plan to bring Los Angeles Metro’s U-Pass, a reduced-fare transit pass, to the 5Cs. The group said the program would expand student opportunities and reduce car dependency.
The group — composed of students from the Claremont Urbanists, a club for urban planning, and the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) Sustainability Committee — is advocating for the colleges to enroll in a pilot plan in which The Claremont Colleges Services (TCCS) would purchase U-Pass from LA Metro to give students who pay a one-time $2 fee unlimited rides across a network of 10 transit agencies.

Motley and Scripps Store close on admitted students day amid staff strike

April 18, 2026 2:06 pm Joelle Rudolf 0

The Motley Coffeehouse and Scripps Store were closed on April 17, admitted students day, due to student staffing shortages. While the Motley’s barista bar was nonoperational, its lounge area hosted recurring teach-ins that outlined the workers’ demands and recounted the coffeehouse’s political history.

In light of the recent administrative decision to assign a supervisor — Interim Vice President for Student Affairs, Stacey Miller — to oversee each organization, 77.6% of Motley staff and 95% of Scripps Store staff voted to strike today, according to each of the business’s student co-heads.

American in Reims: How to manufacture memories

August 13, 2026 10:32 pm Otto Fritton 0

What happens when your study abroad experience isn’t the one you wanted? After months away, Otto Fritton PZ ’27 picks up his abandoned column and reflects on the four months he spent in Reims, France. Between cooking with his host mother, playing soccer in the hail and galavanting in a couple of fields, Fritton realizes how hard it is to notice life while you’re still living it.

A Girl’s Guide to Terrible Men: Tony Montana’s fragile masculinity

August 13, 2026 10:28 pm Bianca Mirica 0

In her latest column, “A Girl’s Guide to Terrible Men,” Bianca Mirica PO ’29 revisits the seductive excess of “Scarface” and the women who expose the insecurity beneath Tony Montana’s power.

Looking for New York: Is it finally time to ban Central Park’s iconic carriage horses?

August 13, 2026 4:50 pm Arianna Kaplan 0

The carriage horses in Central Park have been a part of the New York City tourism canon for over a century. But following the recent deaths of both a tourist and several carriage horses, it might be time to put the practice to rest. Arianna Kaplan ‘27 investigates the history of carriage horses in New York, and determines that the industry is an anachronistic nod to an imagined past, not a true representation of New York history.

Off the Shelf: K-Ming Chang reinvents Asian American narratives

July 23, 2026 7:25 pm Corina Yi 0

In the second installment of her “Off the Shelf” column, Corina Yi PO ’28 reviews K-Ming Chang’s short story collection “Gods of Want.” Featuring cigarette-ad models coming to life, ghost-cousins, shape-shifting daughters, various nameless widows and nine-headed birds, the collection blurs the line between realism

OPINION: AI won’t automate work away, it will expose it

July 11, 2026 3:33 pm Ali Alattar 0

“If artificial intelligence replaces every job, humans will face a mass disillusionment. It won’t be the humanist disillusionment we expect — the mythologized anticlimax of humankind, a world where machines outperform us at jobs we thought were uniquely ours,” writes Alattar. “Rather, we will realize that those jobs never needed to exist, and more begrudgingly, that no job needs to exist.”

OPINION: You should get to know the local candidates on your ballot

June 25, 2026 9:58 pm Akshay Seetharam 0

The gubernatorial debate hosted at Pomona College earlier this spring made it impossible to ignore the contest to become the governor of California. However, candidates for many other positions, including Claremont’s city council and the State Board of Equalization, deserve equal attention.

OPINION: Pomona needs more rigor. The liberal arts are at stake.

June 25, 2026 9:36 pm Ali Alattar 0

Grade inflation discourse often engages with letter grades as instrumental means to an end: workforce employability, grad-school competitiveness, post-college salaries, and social mobility. At Pomona College, though, debates over grade inflation are also debates about what a liberal arts education should demand of its students.

OPINION: Weigh your options — psychiatric drugs are overprescribed

April 24, 2026 4:59 am William Riley 0

Liam Riley PO ‘26 discusses the prescription of psychiatric drugs in the U.S. He discusses the neurochemical model and how it can be a damaging way of looking at the world.

Athenas end Saghens’ 20 year run as SCIAC water polo champs

April 24, 2026 2:36 am Anne Reardon 0

On Saturday, April 18, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) women’s water polo dethroned Pomona-Pitzer’s 20-year reign as SCIAC Champions. Despite P-P’s wins on Feb 25 and April 8, CMS cements its historic season in triumph after beating P-P for the first time in 20 years in January and holding strong for a 14-10 win in this SCIAC Championship game.

The WNBA is in full bloom and roots run closer than you may think

April 24, 2026 2:31 am Ava Fleisher 0

WNBA players’ recent advocacy and negotiations have made headlines, with some critics calling the progress and popularity a modern anomaly. Far from that, Ava Fleisher SC ’28 explores the rich history of women’s basketball at the 5Cs, dating back to Pomona’s groundbreaking 1903 team.

Growing out of the dynasty; saying goodbye to my Warriors-filled childhood

April 24, 2026 2:28 am Charlotte Hahm 0

After a full decade of record-setting dominance in the NBA, the Golden State Warriors dynasty is nearing its end. Charlotte Hahm SC ’28 reflects on her memories growing up alongside the team’s break-out years and how her hometown team’s dependable success fueled childlike hope and naivety.

Seminars and scoreboards: David Goldblatt

April 24, 2026 2:12 am Jake Creelan 0

Pitzer professor David Goldblatt is obsessed with football (soccer). After finishing his undergraduate years at Cambridge University, a young Goldblatt visited a place he hadn’t been since his childhood — a football stadium. This was the spark that ignited his multi-decade tango with the sport, not as a professional athlete but as an author and journalist examining its hidden political and sociological impact.