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QUAKER CAMPUS Oct. 16, 2025

Volume 24 — Issue 4

The voice of Whittier College since 1914

New Objectives for the Academic Year

Courtesy of Whittier College President Kristine Dillon shares her objectives for this academic school year. Angelica Hennessy OPINIONS EDITOR On Friday, Oct. 10, the President of Whittier College, Kristine Dillon, delivered her State of the College Address. The Ruth B. Shannon Center was packed with alumni, donors, and current students, all waiting to hear about the future of the College. Dillon discussed a wide range of important topics, including enrollment, financial aid, key initiatives, renovations, athletics, and professional development opportunities for students. Despite their past financial difficulties, the College has been making substantial and progressive strides, aiming to create both short-term and long-term stability. Dillon shares the three short-term key initiatives that are currently being prioritized by the College: reviewing and strengthening plans for recruitment and financial aid, launching targeted fundraising campaigns, and completing an audit of organizational efficacy and efficiencies. These efforts are well underway; their impact is already visible through the changes happening across campus. The College’s new recruitment plans have already proven successful. Dillon expresses her pride in the College’s enrollment rates, which have been steadily

growing over the past three years while other institutions are experiencing a decline. Enrollment rates have increased by a staggering 20 percent since Fall 2024 and 55 percent since Fall 2023. President Dillon believes this growth is partly due to Whittier College’s increased initiatives to appeal to prospective students in the greater Whittier area, something that was previously not prioritized. Dillon discusses how Whittier College prides itself on the fact that 100 percent of students receive financial aid from the College, most commonly in the form of individual grants and the John Greenleaf Whittier Scholarship Program. Dillon spent the majority of the address expressing

initiative exceeded its goal by 116 percent, with 2,344 donors in total, 1,500 of whom were alumni. Fundraising efforts have been crucial to the future of athletics on campus, especially the return of Football and Men’s Lacrosse, being due to these donations. Notably, alumnus Jonathan Damm led the fundraising campaign to bring men’s lacrosse back, raising over $180,000. At this event, Damm received the Poet Impact Award, recognizing his efforts in making the broader Poet community believe that fundraising for athletics was really possible. The George Allen Fitness Center (GAC) is currently being renovated, and the update to the football locker room has already been completed. This

"This is a way for us to show that Liberal Arts leads to great career opportunities for graduates." - President Kristine Dillon gratitude to the alumni, trustees, and supporters whose donations and fundraising efforts have made the College’s grants, growth, and initiatives possible. The College successfully raised $7.9 million during the 24-25 academic year. The Whittier Now! fundraising

renovation was completely donorfunded, showing the dedication and generosity of Whittier’s alumni and supporters. Another big change soon to come is a new curriculum. Although President Dillon did not talk about the curriculum itself in detail, she

did put emphasis on the College’s shift of focus towards what she called “Community Engagement Professional Development Internships.” Experiential learning opportunities are essential in preparing Whittier students to enter the workforce after guiding them towards graduation. Dillon wants the College to be a place where students can apply to internships or programs where they can learn and strengthen career specific skills. Whittier Works is a program committed to providing students with professional career experience through internships and scholarships. In regard to this program, Dillon explains, “This is a way for us to show that Liberal Arts leads to great career opportunities for graduates.” The opportunities offered through Whittier Works are intended to make Whittier graduates strong and desired candidates in their future endeavors. Beyond this program, there are a wide variety of careerspecific fellowship and research opportunities now being offered at the College, such as the Whittier College Coffee Initiative, the Civil Scholars Program, and the Peer Health Education Program. Whittier College offers 25 on-campus internships, partners with 40+ corporations, and provides the students the chance to earn eight summer internships in China with the tech company INTEX. Whittier students have a huge amount of career-building opportunities available that they will benefit in taking advantage of. By making significant progress in meeting its short-term goals, the College is also steadily working towards satisfying its long-term objectives. Dillon outlined what she referred to as the “Six Pillars” towards long-term financial stability: rebuilding enrollment, elevating fundraising, diversifying revenues, managing expenditures, pursuing strategic collaborations, and enhancing financial flexibility. As more initiatives are put into place, students will steadily see more changes happening campuswide. President Dillon’s address painted a bright future of the College thanks to new objectives and the help of donors.

Prop. 50: Pro-Gerrymandering? Evan Josten FOR THE QC On Nov. 4, a special election will be on California’s ballot. It was presented by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who claims that: “Californians have been uniquely targeted by the Trump Administration, and we are not

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going to sit idle while they command Texas and other states to rig the next election to keep power.” This Proposition is presented to explicitly prevent President Donald Trump and his allies from having a dominating majority in Congress. If Congress is overrun by MAGA Republicans, Trump will have no barriers to passing legislation.

Although California is a longstanding Democratic majority state, some voters are concerned that this effort is unjust and undermines democracy, as the redistricting will create more Democratic districts in California. However, this proposition intends to “nullify” Texas’s efforts to create a Republican House of Representatives.

The redrawing of district boundaries within states has been largely divisive for decades, while remaining unresolved. Newsom aims to utilize the strategic redistricting used in red states like Texas to attack Trump’s ability to control Congress. Continued on pg. 2

World Recap • On Tuesday, Oct. 14, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Argentina with cutting their financial aid if the current Argentinian President Javier Milei loses legislative elections on Oct. 26. According to The Guardian, “Trump’s administration has already promised $20 billion to prop up Argentina’s struggling economy…” • On Oct. 14, the President of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, was removed from office during a military coup. Before the coup, there were weeks of youth protests over poverty, power outages and a lack of opportunity in the country, reports AP News. • On Oct. 14, the New York Times stated, “Russia’s main intelligence agency on Tuesday (Oct. 14) announced a sweeping terrorism investigation into nearly two dozen antiwar Russians.” As of now, Russia is targeting the Federal Security Services (F.S.B.) because of their suspected plotting to overthrow the government. • On Monday, Oct. 13, Venezuela announced they would close their embassy in Norway after their opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Machado was awarded this prize because of her effort and “her tireless work promoting democratic rights,” says the New York Times. Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry will relocate their resources to focus on establishing alliances with the Global South. They will also close an embassy in Australia and open new ones in Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso. • On Saturday Oct. 11, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged U.S. President Donald Trump “to use the momentum of the Gaza ceasefire to broker peace in Ukraine,” according to The Guardian. The two presidents discussed Ukraine’s request for the U.S. to allow cruise missiles that would allow long-range strikes inside of Russia.