Last week's water conservation challenge spread awareness for what may be California's worst recorded drought. Despite last weekend's storm, which produced the hardest rain the college has seen in three years, California's drought continues to threaten the state's water supplies. Resident Advisor (RA) and kinesiology major Sita Wong (junior) organized this semester's challenge with Sustainability Coordinator Emma Sorrell '13. Wong...

Lobbyist Jack Burkman (Rep.) drafted a plan to deploy a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the National Football League (NFL). It is problematic enough that the government is once again trying to control an entity outside of its jurisdiction, but attempting to assert itself on the issue of gay rights within the NFL is heinous. In the NFL it...

Ukraine. Russian troops have surrounded ports and cities in the Crimean peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the Duma parliament for authority to deploy the military more extensively, claiming that the Russian Federation reserves the right to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine. This follows a Feb. 26 Simferopol protest by Crimean Tatars in support of the resignation of former Ukrainian...

College officials canceled Telefund on Feb. 22 and Feb. 23 due to the backlash caused by Campus Safety Lt. Joe Cunje's firing. "Our students are our first priority, and we didn't think it was fair that they should have to be the ones to respond to concerns expressed about Joe Cunje from some of our alumni," Assistant Director of Telefund...

Nine Occidental students and politics professor and Department Chair Caroline Heldman attended Dr. Patricia Esparza’s probable cause hearing last Wednesday to express support for victims of sexual assault. Esparza has been charged with special circumstances murder for the murder of the man who raped her nearly 20 years ago. If convicted, Esparza could face life in prison. Heldman and multiple...

Protests in Ukraine and Venezuela have turned deadly. In Ukraine, demonstrations were triggered by brokering economic deals with Russia and pulling away from deals with the European Union. In Venezuela, citizens are raising their voices against the state of crime and human rights violations. Governments and media are dancing around the big issue attributing the cause of these protests to...

The benefits of reading extend far beyond the academic sphere. Unfortunately, students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) lack access to these benefits due to the closure of about half of the public elementary and middle school libraries. The positive externalities of reading are especially strong for children, who can find solace in a relatable character or glean...

Touting a perfect 4-0 record heading into its game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Wednesday, the Occidental College women’s lacrosse team looked to extend its winning streak to five games, a mark that would qualify as the best start in the program’s five-year history. The Tigers were able to do just that, pulling out a thrilling 12-9 victory over the Athenas and...

I remember learning about the Duomo, the dome of the Florence Cathedral, in art history Professor Eric Frank’s “Art of the Early Italian Renaissance” (ARTH 374) class in the Fall 2012 Semester. Frank and I were meeting about my final paper for the class and he asked me if I had ever seen the Duomo in person. I regretfully admitted...

On a particularly unremarkable Tuesday afternoon, Johnson 302 is filled with the students of Diplomacy and World Affairs (DWA) 201, slouched into the unwieldy, plastic swivel desks. With backpacks tossed against the floor and desktops uniformly covered with highlighted versions of "The United Nations in the 21st Century (Dilemmas in World Politics)," Professor Hebert starts her lesson with a pitch....