Donning an entirely black outfit and black-rimmed glasses, Professor of English and Comparative Literature Studies (ECLS) Martha Ronk stepped up to the lectern. Students chattered outside the window, but as Ronk swung from poem to poem, Johnson Student Center's Morrison Lounge disconnected from the college just beyond its walls and the audience sat transfixed by the lines during her poetry...

A spiral staircase may connect the Green Bean and a newly renovated Bengal Room by the time students return to Occidental for the Fall 2014 semester. The project would provide another multipurpose space for students and reduce crowding in the Green Bean. The Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC) and Director of Student Life Tamara Rice are spearheading efforts but...

Despite the emotionally complex and often tortured roles depicted on screen, movie audiences often believe that the actors, by contrast, walk off the set to glamorous and joyful Hollywood lives. Consequently, when Philip Seymour Hoffman died on Sunday, Feb. 2, the news shocked viewers who were unaware of the actor's lifelong struggle with drug addiction. Hoffman is survived not only...

Two of several student teams won and received a combined $500 to implement proposals to solve community engagement issue at Innovate Oxy, the Nov. 16 biannual hack-a-thon presented by Oxypreneurship. A proposal to expand the common room areas to the basements of some residence halls was granted $300, and another plan to turn the wall running adjacent to the Marketplace...

The Occidental community is home to a new American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) chapter, a nationwide organization that works to protect individual's rights as set out by the laws and Constitution of the United States. Among the large range of topics it covers are First Amendment rights, racial justice and the criminal justice system. The Occidental community chapter focused its...

A Veg Club report investigating Campus Dining's meat sources revealed that while the processed meat may come from local distributors, the live animals are raised in some of the country's largest factory farms that are notorious for inhumane and unsustainable practices. Kara McVey '13 submitted the report last spring for the "UEP 306: Food and the Environment" class. McVey, along...

Oxypreneurship presented the first "Ideas in Action: A Forum for Empowered Students" event last Wednesday, Oct. 23. Six students shared insight from their academic and professional journeys thus far with their peers in an attempt to open up student-to-student dialogue about their passions, goals and sources of inspiration. "Not only was it just organized by the students for the students,...

Students are generally unaware of their professors' personal lives. The life experiences that inform their teaching and perspectives stay hidden so that students only see the effects on their syllabi. Occasionally, professors share opinions share campus issues or current events, but students still rarely see the events that shaped these ideas – unless they make an autobiographical documentary, of course....

Stories about the origin of the Eagle Rock neighborhood's name abound, including theories about the eagle–shaped shadow the rock casts or perhaps an eagle form embedded in the rock. Despite Occidental's location in the Eagle Rock neighborhood, most students don't know where our namesake, the mythical Eagle Rock, actually is or whether it exists at all. Little do they know,...

The Coalition at Occidental for Diversity and Equity (C. O. D. E.) published an online list of demands for the college to complete in order to establish racial equity on Oct. 3. The list followed the group's introduction to the Occidental community through Facebook, Tumblr and Wordpress as the self-attributed "conscience of the institution" this fall. C. O. D. E....