The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held elections for Caltech graduate students and postdocs earlier this month to vote on whether they wanted to unionize and be represented by Caltech Grad Researchers and Postdocs United-UAW (CGPU-UAW).
In the two years that I have been a Social Director for Ricketts Hovse, I have had more than a few opportunities to explore undergraduate student-administration relationships at Caltech and where they have broken down. I have watched my peers in student leadership be ignored and shut down by members of administration.
The class that plagued me the most during last Fall term was Ch 21a, Physical Chemistry, which is an introduction to Quantum Mechanics for chemistry-related majors. My freshman and sophomore years were honestly pretty rough, but these were all supposed to build my skills as a science student here. As a Junior, I was hoping to excel in courses directly related to my major.
As the beginning of February comes back around, you may notice an increase in red or dragon imagery on campus or around Pasadena; Lunar New Year is approaching on the 10th, a celebration of a new year timed by the lunar calendar instead of solar calendar.
Each undergraduate house has a unique culture. Pretty much every Caltech student ever would agree. Parts of what makes house cultures unique, since they are so intertwined with their physical spaces, are the murals in each house.
In the wake of a petition to President Thomas Rosenbaum signed by more than 140 faculty members, the Institute has moved to form a committee for evaluating current admissions standards as predictors of success at Caltech.
Well, you see, the stork union is a bit outdated, and the cabbage patch had to close down due to budget cuts. So, in today’s modern world, babies have found a new, unconventional origin – the Mongolian Grill. It turns out that after consuming a delightful feast at a Mongolian Grill, the body undergoes a magical transformation.
To remind readers where we left off in the previous episode, Elizabeth Zott — female chemist in the 1950s who mastered out of her UCLA Ph.D. program and became a lab technician at Hastings — is now working in Dr. Calvin Evans laboratory.
In the January 16th issue, the Tech reported on a 16-month-long Title IX Case regarding a hidden camera incident. Since then, more students have contacted the Tech to share their experiences with Caltech’s Title IX Office. In the interest of privacy, their identities will not be disclosed. Students who filed Title IX complaints will be referred to as complainants, and the subjects of the complaints will be referred to as respondents.
Teaching quality feedback reports, or TQFRs provide an opportunity for students to share their experiences, either positive or negative, about classes they have taken. In this new column we will look at some of the most entertaining.
On November 30, 2023, Caltech grad students and postdocs filed union authorization cards with the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB). Earlier that day, around 100 grads and postdocs joined together to deliver a letter to Provost Tirrell, signed by over 500 grads and postdocs, requesting a fair union election process and that the Institute remain neutral rather than engaging in anti-union tactics.
(Lessons In Chemistry Apple TV+ series: Season 1 Episode 1: Little Miss Hastings) The novel was picked up by Apple TV+ and turned into an eight-episode mini series starring Brie Larson. This recurring column will review each episode from my perspective as an actual woman in chemistry.
What is this column about? This is the first time I’m seeing “Dear Orange” in this paper or hearing about it at all for that matter. Please tell me more.
In true Caltech fashion, the content for this article came about over midnight coffee at Red Door Café. I was sitting with a group of friends when the topic shifted to freedom of speech on campus. The atmosphere grew heavy and quiet. We were all afraid of saying the “wrong” thing. Finally, I broke the tension.
The laundry machines in all Caltech Undergraduate Housing have recently switched from an ID card-operated payment system to a smartphone app-based system. Previously, users of laundry machines could swipe their student card and the bill was charged to their bursar account. Bechtel Residence and Avery House have had this new system for a few years, but the decision was recently made to retrofit the existing North and South House washing machines with the WASH-Connect control panels.
Red Door, the campus café so inextricable from Caltech existence that it requires no introduction. As such, Red Door staff—tasked with nourishing the endless onslaught of Techers that come its way—deserve as much as anyone for their voices to be heard in The California Tech. The following interview, conducted with Assistant Manager Paige Gilli, is the inaugural entry of a new series with that very aim.
