Best-selling author, political commentator, and Bulwark writer-at-large Tim Miller addressed party dynamics, the future of the conservative movement, and antidotes to doomscrolling as the 2025-26 Jack Kemp ’57 Distinguished Lecturer at Occidental College on October 21.
Editor's note: Dr. Marsha Kinder, who founded film and media studies as a member of the Occidental faculty from 1965 to 1980, died November 26, 2025, in Los Angeles. She was 85. A native of Los Angeles, Marsha received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at UCLA. Survivors include her husband, Nicolás Bautista; their children; and her extended family. A memorial service was held at Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills on December 2. The following tribute was prepared by the faculty of the Media Arts & Culture Department.
The Occidental Athletics Hall of Fame welcomed five new inductees with a spirited ceremony in Cannon Plaza—site of the old Taylor Pool—on October 19, with coaches, family, teammates, and colleagues inducting this year’s honorees. Established in 2012, the Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding achievement in competition, service, dedication, and commitment to Oxy athletics.
Community and service are two of Occidental’s core values, and I view them as inseparable. When we belong to a community, we commit to serving it, and as our mission states, service is the ultimate purpose of a liberal arts education. There’s power in the combination of those values, both here on campus and through our network of thousands of alumni.
Over its 138-year history, Occidental has educated generations of students who have pursued lives dedicated to “the public good.” That phrase goes to the heart of Oxy’s mission, which states: “The distinctive interdisciplinary and multicultural focus of the College’s academic program seeks to foster both the fulfillment of individual aspirations and a deeply rooted commitment to the public good.”
From athletes and activists to artists and enthusiasts, the 437 members of the Occidental Class of 2029 are making their own kind of music. Hailing from 21 countries, 37 states, the District of Columbia, and the North Mariana Islands, each Tiger is eager to make a mark on the world, whether through combating climate change, improving children’s mental health, or building better sports teams.
Let’s start with the deep sea spiders. Mere centimeters long, these strange translucent creatures crawl far beneath the California seascape, consuming methane gas emissions and converting the harmful greenhouse gas into sugars and fats that support the inky black netherworld’s ecosystem. And three recently discovered sea spider species —one with ominously spiky legs—would have gone undiscovered even longer were it not for a research team co-led by Occidental Professor of Biology Shana Goffredi.
When Amie Moberg Hammond ’95 was president of Delta Omicron Tau sorority, she had to race back to the Delta House after cross country practice because they were hosting a recruitment event. “Everyone was dressed up, while I showed up in my running clothes and a sweaty ponytail,” she recalls. “I felt out of place but I went ahead as I was.”
In the late 1920s, Occidental President Remsen Bird announced an ambitious plan to build sorority houses on campus near the newly constructed women’s dormitories, Orr and Erdman halls. “It was to be an elaborate complex, including a swimming pool and tennis courts,” Addie McMenamin ’40 wrote in a history of Alpha Lambda Phi Alpha sorority. “Alphas raised almost enough for a down payment on one of the proposed campus sorority houses —and then the plan was called off.”
It was luck of the room draw that brought first-years Sunny Tuazon of San Jose and Alyssa Zatarain of Inglewood together in Chilcott Hall this fall. But they quickly found that they had much in common. Both are first-generation college students, both have pretty much settled on a major, and both are in Eagle Rock thanks in part to the generosity of current-year scholarship support that is making the Oxy experience more accessible.