A basement hallway of the Norris Chemistry Building is lined with peculiar caution signs about Occidental’s multi-million dollar nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer. The Moore Laboratory acts as a scientific cemetery for the world’s largest Mexican bird collection. A room in Hameetman Science Center designed to have virtually zero magnetic field houses a cryogenic magnetometer and thermal demagnetizers. After two years...

Occidental’s Green Bean Coffee Lounge modified its sustainable “for-here” mug program April 20, according to Taylor Durham (senior), the Green Bean’s health, safety and sustainability manager. The Green Bean also plans to update its specialty drink menu next semester in order to increase its monetary contribution to scholarships. The Green Bean offers organic and local products, recycling and compost bins...

Outside Thorne Hall, Occidental students and LA community members formed a line that nearly extended to the Tiger Cooler an hour before the highly-anticipated arrival of DarkMatter. The transgender South Asian performance art duo comprised of Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian (both of whom prefer the pronoun “they”) performed at Occidental April 18 as part of their It Gets Bitter...

For students who need a little motivation to take their noses out of their books and break a sweat, Occidental offers one credit for physical activity (PHAC) courses such as yoga, Zumba, spinning, cardio tennis, karate, circuit weight training, boot camp and out-of-season conditioning. These courses provide a structured setting where students at all fitness levels can participate in sports...

As part of Occidental’s Earth Week celebration, Campus Dining will pilot an organic smoothie bar in the Marketplace April 24. The bar will be a fixture of Saturday brunches beginning Fall 2015. According to Executive Chef Michael "Meesh" Montygierd, Chef Conrado Gomez proposed the idea of a smoothie bar in order to accommodate the overwhelming demand by students in the...

If students do not feel academically fulfilled with the intensive class workload at Occidental, they have boundless opportunities to explore their academic passions and investigate their inquiries outside the classroom and even beyond the campus. Ellen Goldenberg (senior) said that Occidental is unique in that it provides easily accessible opportunities for students to pursue undergraduate research with their professors. For...

The newly-formed Occidental Barbell Club is off to a strong start. On March 20, a group of students congregated outside Alumni Gymnasium—the facility in which non-varsity athletes are usually confined—in anticipation of their first lifting session in the varsity weight room. Nine members of the club descended to the basement floor of Athletics and dispersed in the spacious room filled...

The Occidental Facilities Management Department will implement plumbing, ventilation and other structural renovations to the Norris Chemistry laboratories as early as this spring, according to Chemistry Professor Michael Hill. Occidental’s Assistant Director of Energy Services Michelle Hill said that the renovations will ramp up after the school year ends and are expected to last into the 2015-16 academic year. The...

Occidental’s women’s ultimate Frisbee team, Women’s Aerial Club (WAC), began the spring season low in numbers but high in spirit. Despite losing four out of six games in a tournament at Irvine the weekend of March 7, WAC walked off the field optimistic, according to handler Blaire Sellers (sophomore). Sellers said that WAC was proud of the close 9-10 loss...

Occidental’s men’s ultimate team, “Detox,” gained a talented first-year class, a new coach and a fresh team philosophy this spring. Detox debuted its talent at their first USA Ultimate-sanctioned tournament of the season, “Trouble in Vegas,” on the weekend of Feb. 28. They went 3-and-3 to secure 11th place out of 28 teams, losing only to the top two teams...