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I Did Not Meet You “At a Very Chinese Time of Your Life"
“You met me at a very Chinese time of my life.” The phrase has taken over social media since it was coined by Chinese-American TikToker @sherryxiiruii, who uses her platform to share cultural insights about China. Her primary business is advertising traditional Chinese medicine practices to her audience, such as avoiding cold foods and wearing house slippers for winter. In a video from early January, Rui detailed small “Chinese” habits while telling viewers they were “turning
Shelby Tang
Apr 27


When Sex-Positivity Stops at Pregnancy
Sex Week reflects the internal contradictions of the Claremont Colleges’ supposed sex-positive culture. Events like these trivialize sex as a consequence-free means for pleasure rather than aiding students who are actually affected by its physical and mental consequences. If student groups want to remain true to their mission of supporting students and survivors, they should make active efforts to care about students at every point on their sexual journey – including pregnanc
Greta Long
Apr 21


Fizz Goes Flat: The Mimetic Danger of Anonymous Social Media
Fizz is a mobile app that lets college students post anonymously to their campus community, verified only by a school email. Fizz sells itself to students as a fun, casual campus-exclusive feed to share jokes, memes, and gossip. However, Fizz quickly becomes a place for targeted bullying, false accusations directed at students and staff, and pile-ons that spread rapidly. Unverified information about campus events can be misleading and even dangerous.
Lia Gabai
Apr 9


Angela Davis Entertained Tyrants and Border Guards Before Pitzer’s Class of 2026
Pitzer College is widely understood to be the most uniformly left-wing of the Claremont consortium. This morning, they announced a commencement speaker who celebrated border guards and shook hands with dictators.
Shiv Parihar
Apr 7


The Quiet Politics of School Holidays
Cesar Chavez speaking in Los Angeles. (Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times ) School holidays are not neutral. They are signals about what we choose to elevate, and what we set aside. When schools drop Presidents' Day but keep Cesar Chavez Day, that is not just a calendar decision; it’s a value judgement. But more than that, it reflects our changing relationship with history itself. To begin with, neither holiday is required. Although Presidents' Day is a federal holiday, schools
Naya Dermenjian
Mar 27


The Liberal Arts Aren’t Broken, American Colleges Are
The liberal arts in America have moved away from their traditional mission of providing students a space for inquiry while educating them about the intellectual foundations of their civilization.
Shiv Parihar
Mar 25


Artificial Intelligence Will Drown You In Your Dreams
The Pied Piper leads children to their deaths with his beautiful song. (Credit: Carl Offterdinger ) Much ink has been spilled over the so-called “alignment problem” of artificial intelligence. Will it behave as humans want it to behave? Will it provide what humans want it to provide? My critique is not downstream of the alignment problem. I am not qualified to predict whether AI will someday misalign with mankind’s wishes. It is, however, becoming increasingly eviden
Shiv Parihar
Mar 2


Motif: A Humanistic Magazine’s Inhuman Cover
In late November, the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna released their fall semester edition of Motif, a student-run creative arts magazine. The issue included a variety of art mediums, from poetry and creative essays to pencil sketches and nail art. In the editorial board’s introductory letter, they said they were “thrilled to support CMC artists and creatives.”
Greta Long
Feb 20


What If We Have It All Wrong?
The majors listed on our diplomas and qualifications inventoried on our resumes say far less about us than the intangible things that actually give our lives meaning, though we seem to forget that. The university was not always seen as a stepping stone into the corporate world or the endless frontier of networking. In the American university system’s original conception, colleges were meant to help students in their pursuit of the good, true, and beautiful. The university was
Greta Long
Dec 4, 2025


I’m a Questbridge Student. Legacy Admissions Shouldn’t Be Caricatured.
A liberal arts college with hardly over a thousand students and a billion dollar endowment, one-fifth of Claremont McKenna’s student body was drawn from the top 1% in 2017. This was not my reality. Neither of my parents completed high school, so how could I have ended up in Claremont? After a low-income upbringing, I owe my presence here to the Questbridge scholarship program for underprivileged students. Programs like this are made possible in part by the boons of legacy adm
Shiv Parihar
Nov 18, 2025


It’s Time to End the Hypocrisy
Crime and Punishment. Photo Credit: Elizabeth Thompsen . Last spring, Josh Morganstein CMC ‘25 and I took “Dostoevsky’s Russia” with...
Dhriti Jagadish
Sep 22, 2025


Political Violence Is Not A Punchline
Charlie Kirk, right-wing commentator and father of two, was shot and killed Wednesday while speaking to a crowd of college students. Only two days earlier, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression released its 2026 report about free speech on America’s college campuses.
Kendall White
Sep 12, 2025


Trigger Warning: I Disagree With You
Photo Credit: wiredforlego On paper, the Claremont Colleges present a unified commitment to inclusion, openness, and intellectual...
Naya Dermenjian
May 17, 2025


Disintegrated Sciences
Construction work on the Robert Day Integrated Sciences Center. As the final panels are placed on the Robert Day Integrated Sciences...
Henry Long and Charlie Hatcher
May 16, 2025


Correcting Grammar Is Not Racist
Claremont McKenna's Center for Writing and Public Discourse. Alexandra Wofford contributed reporting. This spring, we were hired by...
Greta Long
May 11, 2025


Rushdie Doesn’t Speak for Me—and That’s Fine
Sir Salman Rushdie at the 2014 PEN America/Free Expression Literature Conference (credit: Ed Lederman/PEN American Center ) On April 25,...
Henry Long
May 9, 2025


Great Colleges Are Built on Great Missions
Image via Claremont McKenna College . Much ink has been spilled over the decision of Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr to...
Shiv Parihar
May 4, 2025


Bring Back Standardized Tests
Image Credit: Baxter Brew On Friday, January 24, CMC faculty voted to recommend that the Board of Trustees reinstate the school’s...
Baxter Brew and Violet Ramanathan
Feb 20, 2025


Mental Illness is Losing its Meaning
Image credit: Baxter Brew Thankfully, mental health has largely escaped the antiquated corner into which our parents’ generation pushed...
Baxter Brew
Nov 16, 2024


Student Protesters Should Embrace Suspensions
Posters set up outside Carnegie Hall. On October 23, a statement from Pomona College President Gabi Starr announced that ten students had...
Violet Ramanathan
Nov 14, 2024
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