The release of the long awaited Pepper Hamilton report—a 130-page diagnosis of sexual assault policy—practices and debate at Occidental, has generated backlash from faculty, who claim the report is biased and fails to provide adequate policy recommendations. Attorneys Gina Smith and Lisa Gomez were tasked in March 2013 to provide an assessment of Occidental's sexual assault policies, procedures and responses....

The exposed brick walls and naked light bulbs hanging from high ceilings of The York give the Highland Park bar a modern, minimalist feel. But as of last Thursday, the space has been transformed by an installation of Art History & Visual Arts major Jacqueline Surdell's (senior) work, adding warmth to the hip hangout. Surdell is known on campus as...

Air Force veteran Aaron Hammonds (sophomore) will lead a presentation on the history of military veterans at Occidental on Veteran's Day. His presentation, "60 years of Service: A conversation with Oxy's Veterans Past and Present," will take place at 11:30 a.m. in Choi Auditorium. The presentation will be broken up into three sections. First Hammonds will present on Occidental's history...

Students and faculty brought their grievances to the table at Tuesday's town hall meeting to discuss the long-awaited Pepper Hamilton report. President Jonathan Veitch and Title IX Coordinator Ruth Jones led the meeting while Loyal Marymount Law School professor Laurie Levenson moderated. "The goal today is to really talk about the implications of the report," Veitch said. "It is a...

For most students, the on-campus living experience begins with an email from Residential Education and Housing Services (REHS) the summer before their first year at Occidental. Apprehensive about the unknown experiences that await them, students immediately start scouring Facebook for their first college roommate. They wade through waves of posts on the incoming class Facebook page to see who has...

The ongoing campus dialogue on diversity and equity came to a head last week after two members of the Phi Kappa Psi (Phi Psi) fraternity posted an event on Facebook making light of recent global tragedies. The event, titled “End of the World Party: ISIS, Ebola, & Malaysian Airlines,” was quickly removed from the social media site, but not before...

President Jonathan Veitch announced the creation of the Campus Committee on Sexual Responsibility and Misconduct (CCSRM) Oct. 24, days before releasing the Pepper Hamilton report on Occidental's sexual assault policies. Veitch charged the committee with several tasks, including reviewing the college’s sexual assault policy, engaging in community outreach and providing feedback on educational programming. Members of the 13-person committee were...

Roughly 1 percent of Occidental's endowment—$3.5 million—will go towards funding campus sustainability projects, thanks to a measure approved by the board of trustees in October. Occidental’s Sustainability Committee created the newly-funded Green Revolving Fund (GRF) in order to make campus greening initiatives more economically feasible for the college, according to Sustainability Coordinator Emma Sorrell. The GRF will provide loans for...

The board of trustees approved a measure to allocate last year's $1.3 million budget surplus to maintenance and repairs, according to Vice President of Finance and Planning Amos Himmelstein. The surplus resulted from both savings in some areas and increased revenue in others, Himmelstein noted. Vacancies in administrative positions, decreased spending on faculty salaries and revenue from "auxiliaries"—proceeds from Campus...

Professors invited journalist Chris Goffard, poet and author Sarah Manguso and screenwriter Hilly Hicks, Jr. to campus last Tuesday to celebrate the launch of the interdisciplinary writing minor. The event marks the culmination of a four-year effort by Writing & Rhetoric Professors Julie Prebel and Thomas Burkdall, English professors Martha Ronk and John Swift, theater professor Laurel Meade and Media...