The Occidental

The Occidental The official newspaper of Occidental College since 1893. Founded in 1893, The Occidental is the official newspaper of Occidental College.

The Occidental is distributed to more than 2,000 faculty, staff, students, parents and community members every Wednesday during the academic year, online and in print.

Print issue spotted on the quad!
10/09/2025

Print issue spotted on the quad!

We are hiring for the fall!! Oxy students, check your email for application links :)
08/20/2025

We are hiring for the fall!! Oxy students, check your email for application links :)

Since the first filming on campus in 1920 for the silent drama film “Cup of Fury,” Occidental’s beloved tree-lined quad ...
02/20/2025

Since the first filming on campus in 1920 for the silent drama film “Cup of Fury,” Occidental’s beloved tree-lined quad and columned buildings continue to appear on big and small screens alike. Over the years, film icons have walked the same path as students walk on their way to economics class. In 2003, College Secretary and Voluntary Archivist Jean Paule compiled a list of motion pictures filmed on the campus, which is now available through Special Collections.

Read more at the link in our bio.

Writer: Mollie Barnes
Photographer: Abigail Montopoli

Sophie Weil (senior) is using her passions in photography to build connections and make a name for herself. A Media Arts...
10/05/2024

Sophie Weil (senior) is using her passions in photography to build connections and make a name for herself. A Media Arts and Culture (MAC) major from Santa Rosa, CA, Weil has photographed 70 concerts across LA and has no intentions of slowing down any time soon.

“When I’m shooting concerts, I want my photos to stand out in a big net of other concert photographers in LA,” Weil said. “I want them to look as non-realistic as possible. I love when I hear that my concert photos have a certain recognizable style that’s unique because that’s what makes musicians want to hire me for my visual style over someone else’s.”

Read more at the link in our bio.

📝Ava Anderson
📷Lupin Nimberg

In response to several break-ins to shops on Colorado Blvd, the City Council of LA approved $100,000 January 2024 to inc...
10/05/2024

In response to several break-ins to shops on Colorado Blvd, the City Council of LA approved $100,000 January 2024 to increase foot patrols in Eagle Rock in a motion spearheaded by Kevin de León.

Luciano Alcorta co-owns Malbec Market, an Argentinian restaurant, alongside his brother. Alcorta said that no one has broken into his store since January. He said he credits the safety of his store to de León’s initiative.

“Mr. de León got involved very quickly,” Alcorta said. “I think he got the right message, and he jumped on it right away.”

Read more at the link in our bio.

📝 Michelle Teh
📷 Marty Valdez

“I want to debate a Republican.” These are words I don’t usually hear myself say, especially considering how frustrating...
09/27/2024

“I want to debate a Republican.” These are words I don’t usually hear myself say, especially considering how frustrating political debates tend to get with my grandparents. But leaving my politics seminars at Occidental, I find myself wishing for someone across the aisle to challenge me. I’m a Democrat. I support social spending, reproductive rights, gun control and immigration reform. But I also recognize that these aren’t universally held beliefs. The lack of conservative thought at Occidental limits intellectual diversity and hinders students’ ability to engage with differing perspectives.

Political diversity, especially conservative thought, is almost nonexistent at Occidental. I’m not advocating for some far-right, Trumpian version of conservatism. Many of Trump’s policies don’t even fit traditional conservative principles. I’m talking about ideas like Austrian economics and free-market policies — perspectives I encountered in Professor Daron Djerdjian’s economics class.

The first time I sat in Djerdjian’s class, I walked out with my views turned upside down. Before that, I thought I had it all figured out. I had a high-schooler’s understanding of Marx, railing against capitalism and promoting socialism as the solution. One class with Djerdjian made me realize how much I was living in a political bubble. College, after all, is supposed to challenge our thinking. Yet when Occidental didn’t renew Djerdjian’s contract, our campus lost a key source of intellectual diversity.

Read more at the link in our bio.

📝 Tejas Varma
🖌️ Zachary Pang

Alexis Chang (senior), widely known by students as “DJ Lexos,” was first introduced to the world of DJing during the 202...
09/27/2024

Alexis Chang (senior), widely known by students as “DJ Lexos,” was first introduced to the world of DJing during the 2020 global pandemic. A year later, they opened for Spring Fest’s headliner, Flo Milli, as a first year — and Chang said they couldn’t have done it without the support and connections they have at Occidental.

“Oxy has helped me kickstart my entire career,” Chang said. “[Spring Fest] still is one of my favorite sets ever. It gave me a lot of exposure within the school because there were so many people there.”

Prior to attending Occidental, Chang said their interest was piqued by live stream DJ performances on social media.

“There were DJs having live streams, and my mom would always play them. I started following more DJs on Instagram — DJs from New York,” Chang said.

Read more at the link in our bio.

📝 Amelia Gehlhaus and Ellie von Brachel
📷 Kate Netzer

Muralist, painter and illustrator Andrew Schoultz stood on a ladder outside Guerrero Gallery in Eagle Rock, painting a m...
09/27/2024

Muralist, painter and illustrator Andrew Schoultz stood on a ladder outside Guerrero Gallery in Eagle Rock, painting a mural in preparation for two of his exhibits: “Artificial Horizons, in Real Time,” a solo showcase, and “Domestic Views in F Sharp,” a collaborative work with artists Brad Bernhardt, a sculptor and painter, and Alejandro DePass, a furniture maker.

Schoultz is currently represented by three galleries: Hosfelt Gallery in San Francisco, Halsey McKay Gallery in New York, and Galerie Droste in Düsseldorf. He said he enjoyed art from a young age and that he began his career by painting murals.

“I was really into comic books growing up,” Schoultz said. “I was doing a lot of graffiti for quite a while and that is what made me have a natural transition into doing a lot of mural work.”

Read more at the link in our bio.

📝 Diana Trutia
📷 Marty Valdez

This year, Lookout Santa Cruz, a local online news outlet in Santa Cruz with only 14 employees, including general-assign...
09/27/2024

This year, Lookout Santa Cruz, a local online news outlet in Santa Cruz with only 14 employees, including general-assignment correspondent and Occidental alumni Max Chun ’19, won journalism’s most coveted award — the Pulitzer Prize — for Breaking News Reporting.

Chun said winning a Pulitzer only five years after completing his undergraduate degree was no easy feat and that during college, he had no idea news reporting would be his career.

“I didn’t really get into journalism until midway through my time [at Occidental],” Chun said. “I was studying politics and wasn’t super set on what I was planning to do after.”

Read more at the link in our bio.

📝Mia Bracco
📷 Courtesy of Richard Anderson

Señor Fish — a Mexican restaurant on Eagle Rock Boulevard — has added weekly stand-up comedy to their Monday-night menu....
09/19/2024

Señor Fish — a Mexican restaurant on Eagle Rock Boulevard — has added weekly stand-up comedy to their Monday-night menu. According to Occidental student Ian Terell (junior), he and his friends attended “The Monday Show” regularly over the summer while they were on campus for research and internships.

“We saw the sign for Monday night comedy, and were like, ‘We should just try it out.’ So then we [went] the following Monday,” Terrell said.

Read more at the link in our bio.

📝Eliana Joftus & Kate Netzer
📷 Kate Netzer

On the first day of class this fall, Eagle Rock High School (ERHS) English teacher Aileen Gendrano Adao had a new studen...
09/19/2024

On the first day of class this fall, Eagle Rock High School (ERHS) English teacher Aileen Gendrano Adao had a new student in class: Selena Gomez. Yes, that Selena Gomez. The billionaire, pop star, actor and philanthropist Selena Gomez. According to Adao, Gomez’s appearance was part of the launch of a student mental health initiative headed by Google and DonorsChoose, a program that helps fund resources that teachers provide in their classrooms.

Adao said that Google raised $10 million for schools to purchase mental health resources for both students and teachers. According to The Eastsider LA, DonorsChoose provided $50,000 of that $10 million to give to ERHS.

Adao said that Gomez was invited by the partnership as a celebrity spokesperson for the initiative.

“DonorsChoose contacted me and asked me if I was willing to be part of the launch of their mental health initiative with Google,” Adao said. “Then they would come in, and they would engage in this launch event with myself and my students and bring in a celebrity to [make it] a press release celebration.”

Read more at the link in our bio.

📝 Noah Kim
📷 Amy Wong

The new Run Club at Occidental seeks to close the gap between sports on campus and recreational athletic activities thro...
09/19/2024

The new Run Club at Occidental seeks to close the gap between sports on campus and recreational athletic activities through running. Club President Sloan Wittliff (senior) and Vice Presidents Jordan Deemer (senior) and Burch Sansbury-Carter (sophomore) said that creating a space to participate in something active and social is integral to the Run Club.

“Running is such a restorative thing to do to better yourself and make friends. That’s the premise of this club,” Deemer said. “Having a space to do something that makes us feel better every day while feeling more like a community.”

Committed to the pillars of community building, Wittliff said they wanted to create a place for all runners, with or without experience.

“We want it to be very inclusive,” Wittliff said. “Whatever fitness level, wherever you are coming from, that’s okay.”

Read more at the link in our bio.

📝 Elise Kim
📷 Lupin Nimberg

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About Us

The mission of The Occidental is to provide fair, accurate and balanced journalism of the highest quality to members of Occidental College as well as the local community. We promote the free exchange of information, and our staff strives to maintain the highest professional journalistic ethics and standards. We aim to prioritize truth, credibility, and transparency above all else in our reporting; hold the leadership of the student body, college and larger community accountable; and provide a platform for productive community dialogue.

As the official student newspaper of Occidental College, The Occidental aims to fulfill three primary functions. The first is to inform our audience by presenting unbiased and accurate information regarding topics and events of importance and interest to the Occidental and local community. The second is to serve as a public forum by providing commentary on issues important to the community and encouraging community members to respond, contribute and participate in community dialogue. The third is to educate by creating an effective and inclusive learning environment where staff members can learn the journalism trade and professional skills.

We are a completely student-run organization. We strive to uphold the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics as the standards for our policies and procedures.

Read our Frequently Asked Questions to learn more about our organization, practices and policies.