NEWS | Vol. 25, Issue 1 | 1

Back For More: Letter from the Editors

Welcome everyone to the 2026-2027 academic school year!

In the midst of our current heat wave and as everyone adjusts to the first few weeks of school, the Quaker Campus(QC) welcomes students old and new to Whittier College!

For the uninitiated, the QC is the student-led newspaper where we go out and report on the current events pertaining to our community such as news issues, events, sports coverage,and what is going on in the entertainment world as we have been doing for the past 112 years.

Between the summer and into our first few days, the world has changed as higher education institutions like the College are faced with the current administration’s attempts to cut down on funding and federal aid for students to have the education they need. But despite these attempts, the College stands strong and has grown even stronger than before.

After the new career based curriculum was introduced last year, dedicated to teaching students developmental skills, the College has hit a new high in enrollment. According to President Dillon, the College has accepted over 400 new students for the current academic year, including 319 first-year and 94 transfer students.

This year’s incoming class is the College’s highest number of students since the 2019-2020 year and have been in part due to Dillon’s policies of rebranding the school and putting the College back in the spotlight.

Especially with the return of football after its unexpected cancellation in 2022, coming back with more than $22.5 million invested in the College,this year is focused on growing the community even more.

As the College changes, so too does the QC. Last year’s team sought to bring QC back in the eyes of students, and hoped to bring the student body’s vision into focus. This brought more of a social media presence, introducing weekly recap posts with the newest issue and showing the “What’s Up Whittier” and Sports schedule that are contained within the issue.

Last year also introduced the comic artist role, expanding for people to bring their creative ideas to the floor. Even though the known two comic artists have graduated, the QC is always welcome for anyone to submit their comics whether they are serious or silly, big or small, and even digital or the classic hand drawn art style.

Finally, the QC collaborated with a number of organizations for events, particularly the ICE out of Whittier protest alongside KPOET, BSA, and ASA, giving students a space to fight against the current injustice in the world.

And even though the year just started, the QC continues to evolve with new faces, new talent, and the resurgence of certain positions such as copyeditors and photographers to help enhance the hard work of our writers. We will also have digital articles on our newly instated website, allowing it to reach more readers in a medium more suitable for our generation.

In a time of fake news and reliance on quick social media posts about what is going on in the world, the QC will always be an independent student-run newspaper that remains and always will be loyal to our fellow students.

We will continue to maintain independence from those we cover, including the College itself, and make the truth our first priority by verifying everything that we report on. We intend to cover issues that pertain to the College’s student body from all of our sections: Campus Life, Sports, Opinions, Features, News, and Arts & Entertainment, all without fear or favor.

We want to ensure that everyone is given the opportunity to learn how things will impact them as the current administration cracks down on more and more departments, but also the opportunity to critique and compromise on our content. Ensuring that the College community is kept aware of the actual truth rather than letting everyone slip into fear and uncertainty will always be our first priority.

Running the show this year is fourth-year Emma Galvan as our Editor-in-Chief. Galvan is an English major with an emphasis in Creative Writing, with a minor in Film studies. She brings four years of experience at the QC, first serving as a Copy Editor before becoming Heads of Campus Life and Copy Editors to last transposition as Deputy Editor.

Alongside this role, Galvan is the new President of Media Council, a council consisting of all the various media organizations on campus such as VPS, KPOET, Acropolis, and soon, The Greenleaf Review.Galvan hopes to continue the legacy of past editors by keeping the QC’s impact on the College community strong, and leading her team with integrity.

And serving as the other half of this dynamic duo, Penelope “Penny” Turgen continues to tackle the tough task of Managing/Deputy Editor. She is a fourth-year English Literature major balancing school work in her final semester, her role in the QC, and diving for the College’s Swim and Dive team.

Turgen is thrilled to continue to work along side and nurture skilled artists,writers, editors, journalists, and photographers.

Independent journalism is a slowly dying art, but one that is so precious. However, there is no QC without our wonderful team, old and new, the ones who put their heart and soul into helping us.

From our section heads,to the copy editors who polish and ensure our pieces are to professional standards, to our writers who take these stories and bring them to life in their own special way, our comic artists that bring the bit of joy and happiness that we need, and our photographers who bring out the best of these stories with just a singular image.

Everyone at the QC who believes in the essential and daunting tasks of journalism to our community is important to us, you allow the QC to still be alive and well.

And of course, the best for last. A sincere and heartfelt thank you to our readers! You are the life and heart of the College, without which, our reporting would not be possible.

Thank you,

The 2026-2027 QC Editorial Board

If you are interested in joining the QC team, we have openings for all positions such as writing, copy editing, photography, and comic artist. Any and all help are welcome. The QC is dedicated to providing the truth and verifying everything that we report, however if there are any errors in our reporting, questions, or story tips to share, please contact us at qc@poets.whittier.edu. The Whittier College community is important to us, your voice and input matters.