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Unleash Your Inner Prankster with Caltech's Official Prank Club!

Unleash Your Inner Prankster with Caltech's Official Prank Club!

WHY JOIN US? Dive into a world where cunningness knows no bounds! The Caltech Prank Club is your ticket to a community of masterminds who transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Our pranks are legendary, and our laughter is contagious. From harmless hijinks to mind-bending setups, we redefine the meaning of fun!
Vice President of Student Affairs Addresses Controversy Over Discontinuing Rotation Events

Vice President of Student Affairs Addresses Controversy Over Discontinuing Rotation Events

There has been a lot of buzz about the vague spectre of “admin” banning undergraduate house events, both during and outside Rotation this year. In continuing this discussion between tradition and inclusivity, the Tech interviewed Dr. Kevin Gilmartin, Vice President for Student Affairs, to get his perspective on the matter. Our conversation focused on two specific issues: Blacker Hovse’s Potato Cannon, and Ricketts Hovse’s Rotation Dinner Skits.
Write For the Tech.

Write For the Tech.

If you are a friend, an enemy, or even a vague acquaintance of mine, you have likely heard me tell you to write for the Tech. And yet my research has shown the vast majority of you have never written for the tech! What utter disgrace, frankly I’m disappointed. So in an effort to convince more of you to write for the tech I have written a very comprehensive guide about how to write for the tech.
Caltech orange needs a hint of green

Caltech orange needs a hint of green

Arriving at this institution from Denmark many tropes of the American, and indeed the Californian life seemed confirmed. Breakfasts of waffles, sweltering temperatures and affable attitudes. However, there’s one aspect that has struck me more than any other - the complete disregard for environmental concerns.
Caltech's Course on 'The Biomechanics of Organismal Design': Where Engineering Meets Biology

Caltech's Course on 'The Biomechanics of Organismal Design': Where Engineering Meets Biology

At Caltech, a distinctive biology course introduces a new way students approach the life sciences. “The Biomechanics of Organismal Design,” taught by Professor Michael H. Dickinson, merges the concrete principles of physics with the dynamic patterns of biology. This integration offers a new perspective to students, particularly appealing to those with interests in mechanical engineering. The course tackles intriguing questions like how penguins swim, why maple seeds spin to the ground, and the comparative strength of spider silk versus steel. While the course focuses on the organismal level, it also incorporates molecular, cellular, and tissue-level scales, painting a comprehensive picture of biological mechanics.
Housing painting over murals

Housing painting over murals

In the North and South House undergraduate residences, the walls are filled with colors and murals. The murals have been put up continuously over the years and represent a history of student life. In order to put up a mural, the design has to be approved by both the members of the house and by housing. Caltech Housing’s website states that their mural policy is in place to “support self-expression and also help foster an enjoyable and safe living environment for all house members.”
Caltech Unionization Effort

Caltech Unionization Effort

A group of graduate students and postdocs at Caltech have begun the process of unionizing. They have collected over 450 union cards, a supermajority of the grad students. While union cards are not a guarantee of a vote in a union election, they are a good predictor. The next step in the process is filing for a union election, where the graduate student body and the postdocs will vote on whether they want to unionize.
CGPU Op-Ed

CGPU Op-Ed

Following the C/GPU majority support rally at Caltech Hall, discussions about grad and postdoc unionization have become increasingly urgent. We are writing to endorse the movement to form a labor union for graduate students and postdocs at Caltech. Our research is diverse, spanning microbiology, environmental science, systems biology, quantum optics, and gravitational physics. Forming a union would empower us to negotiate better working conditions, which in turn will improve our ability to produce world-class research and teach world-class students. We can learn from our colleagues at institutions like University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and MIT to build a strong union that supports all grads and postdocs—both by making concrete gains at the bargaining table and building a stronger community.
Are Privacy and the Honor Code Compatible?

Are Privacy and the Honor Code Compatible?

On October 1st, the day of move-in, an email was sent out by Emily Sanger, the Bechtel RLC (resident life coordinator). The email contained 63 temporary room codes, opening every frosh’s private room in Bechtel. These temporary room codes, while allegedly only lasting a few days, gave access to many student’s personal belongings. It’s unknown how many students these codes were sent to.
The Unstandardization of Caltech: Bathrooms

The Unstandardization of Caltech: Bathrooms

After arriving at Caltech, one of the first things I noticed about the campus once I finally had time to wander around was that, from what I could tell, this place lacked a consistent architectural style. There’s a mix of Spanish-style architecture like Beckman Institute, more modern-looking buildings like Chen, and silly guys like the Beckman Hall (and also ugly ass ones like Downs-Lauritsen). This mixing of styles continues inside, with some buildings like Bridge keeping their old-fashioned style but Gates-Thomas deciding to modernize. That’s all neat and cool, but it goes a little further than what you see walking up and down the halls. The place I noticed these tiny details is a sacred place where you have time to yourself, a place free of distraction, a place of relief: the bathroom.

Blacker’s Potato Cannon Banned After Over 20 Years of Use

After over two decades ofcontinuous operation, Caltech Administration has banned the firing of the potato cannon as part of Blacker Hovse’s rotation events. Built in 2002 as part of a Ditch Day stack, firing it has been a Blacker Hovse tradition ever since. “The potato cannon was my favorite rotation event last year. I’m disappointed that this year’s frosh [weren’t] able to have the same experience as I did,” says Ethan Labelson (EE ‘26, Blacker/Dabney).
ASCIT Social Calendar 2023-24

ASCIT Social Calendar 2023-24

While houses throw a significant portion of the social events during the year, ASCIT throws events open to the entire student body every term. We’ve listed an overview of the events that we both host and help out with, often with our advisor, Tom Mannion, the Senior Director of Student Activities and Alumni Engagement.
Profile: Michele Judd, Executive Director, W.M. Keck Institute for Space Studies

Profile: Michele Judd, Executive Director, W.M. Keck Institute for Space Studies

In 1988, Mobil Oil Field foreman Michele Judd stood on top of an oil platform in Paso Robles, California. She did not give much thought to the day ending or the stars coming out. To Judd, this simply signified that the workday was finishing and most of her workers would be heading home, leaving just a skeleton crew to work through the night. But years later, she remembers looking up into the darkening sky, wondering what it would be like working on projects high in space rather than working with materials deep in the earth.