There is a reason Senior Comprehensives Projects (comps) are bemoaned and dreaded: they are so much more work than expected. While students can debate whether their major’s paper, presentations or test is the most difficult assignment, senior comps across the board are nerve-wracking, time-consuming, overwhelming and under-valued projects. Any senior seminar class should to be counted as eight credit hours,...

Cheerleading The Occidental cheer team showcased their new, more dance-based style at the halftime performance for the football Homecoming game on Saturday. According to the squad’s co-captain Janel Booker (senior), the change in style is largely due to their recent change in leadership. The team lost coach Brittlin Yamaguchi at the end of last year and replaced her with Ricah...

In the last year, Turkey has been a main stopping point for Islamist extremists attempting to cross into Syria to fight the Bashar al-Assad regime. The country’s porous border with Syria has allowed these militants to cross into the country undetected. This has undoubtedly lead to the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Over the past...

Occidental's first Unity Week kicked off Monday with a cultural club mixer hosted by the Black Student Alliance (BSA). The weeklong event brings together cultural clubs from across campus to celebrate diversity and multiculturalism. Unity Week was developed by BSA president Samarah Jackson (senior) and e-board members of other cultural groups on campus. Organizers originally called the program Solidarity Summit...

Tucked away in the Antaeus Company Library in the North Hollywood (NoHo) Arts District, Los Angeles's bundled-up literati listened to the theater company's dramatic reading of "The Legend Sleepy Hollow" in a room littered with texts by Shakespeare and Homer. Two blocks down the road, a member of The Newer York Press took over the Ha Ha Cafe patio with...

Oxypreneurship is expanding and lengthening this year's January Term (J-Term) due to the success of last year's pilot program. The upcoming J-Term, which will take place Jan. 7-18, will give more students a chance to explore entrepreneurship in-depth over winter break. Oxypreneurship member Maddie Caldemeyer (senior) describes the program as an entrepreneurial boot camp where students can learn entrepreneurial skills...

While Occidental students may be too old to trick-or-treat this Halloween, amusement parks and hayrides are an age-appropriate alternative only a short drive from campus. Our writers mustered up the courage to visit Universal Studios, Six Flags, the Haunted Hayride and Knott’s Berry Farm to give their fellow students the low-down on nearby Halloween attractions. Universal Studios Halloween Horror NightHalloween...

Students and local residents crunched numbers at Occidental's first Datathon this past weekend to analyze the effects of gentrification in Highland Park. The 12-hour event was organized by four organizations within Occidental, American Public Media's Marketplace and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. The idea behind the event was to use data that was publicly available and turn it...

Blaire Sellers (sophomore) and Brandilyn Tebo (senior) are empowering local students to confront their emotions through their new Affirming Workshops About Reclaiming Motions (AWARE) initiative. The program was developed by the two Occidental students in August as part of their interest in spreading emotional intelligence education. Participants in the workshops learn about distinguishing thoughts from feelings, naming the three elements...

United States. Google's Senior Vice President Alan Eustace, 57, jumped from a high-altitude air balloon near the top of the stratosphere Friday, breaking the world record for highest free fall jump. The air balloon took off from an abandoned airport in Roswell, N. M. and reached an altitude of 135,890 feet before Eustace, wearing a carefully designed spacesuit with a...