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Oxy SJP protest and confrontation with security at Stritikus’s inauguration expose strong divides across campus communities
Jacob Whitney -0
A crowd of roughly 30 Occidental Students for Justice in Palestine (Oxy SJP) protesters attempted to force their way through Campus Safety and Code Four private security guards into President Tom Stritikus’s inauguration April 25, leading to a confrontation on the steps to the Remsen Bird Hillside Theater. The protest began about an hour into the ceremony around 4 p.m., shortly after Board of...
Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor: War is the antithesis of community
Dishea Luz Lightfoot - Tell me what is a better reflection of sanity — the poise of “Strike Package” Tom Stritikus as his crowning moment was under siege, or the people outside rallying because they feel a moral, spiritual and societal obligation to shake the cage in the name of the Palestinians? To say either is to fall into the false dichotomy our...
According to an email from Campus Safety, a break-in occurred at Telefund, Occidental’s student fundraising program, at 3:20 a.m. April 23. CCTV footage shared with the campus community shows a masked and capped individual dressed in light-colored clothing leaving Telefund through the staircases in the Tiger Den at Thorne Hall. In the email, Campus Safety urged the community to share any...
News
Occidental students hold hunger strike demanding college divestment, student and immigrant protections
Ava LaLonde - April 21, 10 Occidental students began a hunger strike for immigrant justice, student protections and college divestment from genocide, according to Occidental’s Jewish Voices for Peace (Oxy JVP) Media Liasion Tobias Lodish. Lodish said 10 students are fully participating in the hunger strike while a number of students are partially striking and limiting their daily calorie intake. The strikers have...
Tom Nichols, author of "The Death of Expertise," gave a talk in Choi Auditorium April 8 as the 2025 Jack Kemp '57 Distinguished Lecturer, where he outlined his book and argued that the U.S. population’s deep resentment of expert knowledge is helping erode democratic institutions. “I think that the general lack of trust in experts goes back to the late 1960s...
April 10, about 50 protesters led by Occidental Students for Justice in Palestine (Oxy SJP) demonstrated in close proximity to both an “Experience Occidental” admitted students event that took place on the Academic Quad and in Cannon Plaza, and a faculty meeting in Lower Herrick. This protest comes after a March 11 Oxy SJP rally occurred at an Early Decision...
Culture
Lencia Kebede ’16 ‘defies gravity’ as she flies from Keck Theater to Broadway
Abigail Montopoli - Lencia Kebede '16 began her historic Broadway debut as the first Black woman to play Elphaba in “Wicked" full time on Broadway at the Gershwin Theater in New York City March 4. According to Kebede, seeing an LA performance of “The Lion King” as a child originally sparked her interest in live performance art. Kebede said after seeing “Wicked” on...
What do the words “global pandemic” mean? I define it this way: Zoom calls, neighborhood walks and anxiety. For some, the words sound like painted cars and drive-by graduation ceremonies. Others think of police brutality and protests. Still others miss loved ones. COVID-19 gave those words a literal meaning. Where before they were science fiction, the words “global pandemic” now refer to something...
Culture
‘Feels like you’re on Project Runway’: Occidental students host second annual fashion show
Avinash Iyer - Models sporting jewelry and garments designed and constructed by current and former Occidental students strutted around the Gilman Fountain April 5 as part of the Flaneur Fashion Show, the second annual fashion show at Occidental. According to Co-Director Tori Iturralde (senior), organizing the show this year differed significantly from the previous year's show, dubbed TENS, which they directed as well. “The first one,...