By WENDY HUANG     Food is an essential part of my life. Growing up in Taiwan, during big community gatherings like the Lunar New Year mid-autumn festival, we gathered as family and friends. Besides warm company, good food is the most important part. While studying abroad in Europe, I got the chance to visit different countries and try authentic local foods, from traditional Scottish sticky toffee pudding to kebab in Istanbul, Turkey. Besides my tasting experiences, my relationship with food is vast; I worked at a restaurant as a...

By GEORGE SLAATS    On Aug. 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) opened the final public comment period on its rescission of the Roadless Rule. This repeal could open 45 million acres of public land across the country, an area roughly the same size as all of Washington State, to build roads, logging, mining and other natural resource extraction.    The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, more commonly referred to as the Roadless Rule, is a 2001 conservation measure and Forest Service policy that protects over 45 million acres...

By CAROLINE EATON   Gray ash fluttered through the open window, settling in a thin blanket across the worn cabin floors. Golden rays of sunlight flickered across the faces of Puget Sound student Benjamin Flory (‘30) and his fellow camp counselor as they woke to the hazy scene. The pair slept soundly in their cabin at Camp Du Nord, Minnesota, unaware that the smoke outside would soon engulf their room. “It got really bad, and the smoke started pouring in,” Flory said. “My roommate and I, one of my good friends,...

By Delaney Hackett   As of June 1, 2026, the Watson Fellowship ended its partnership with the University of Puget Sound, which means students are no longer able to apply to the fellowship. The Watson Fellowship is a one-year grant, gifted to graduating seniors “for pur­pose­ful, inde­pen­dent explo­ration out­side the Unit­ed States,” according to their website. This grant is specifically for small, selective liberal arts colleges, with 39 schools currently meeting the necessary eligibility requirements.    Fellowship Advisor Madison Howard stated, “Campus interest in Watson had dropped off. It was no longer...

By ADRIANA TJADER  University of Puget Sound alum, Katherine Kittlitz (‘25), has filed a lawsuit against the University over the previous Dining Dollars meal plan. The lawsuit alleges the University violated two Washington state laws by requiring students to purchase pre-paid meal plans that expired at the end of each academic year. Under this system, any unused funds were absorbed by the school each May rather than remaining in students’ accounts.  According to the filings, Puget Sound ID cards are loaded with dining dollars that function similarly to gift cards....

Welcome to the first issue of The Puget Sound Trail for the 2026-2027 school year! We are so excited to bring you another year of investigative reporting, intriguing community highlights, humorous satirical pieces and more!   As The Trail celebrates 116 years of publication, we're reflecting on where we've come from and where we're going. Since our return in 2021, we've focused on rebuilding our foundation and institutionalizing our internal processes so that each new staff inherits a stronger paper than the one before. Countless staff members have brought us...

By Princess Akpotu   Spaceworks Tacoma is a non-profit organization committed to advocating for the systems that allow artists and microenterprises to thrive by championing livable wages for creatives, carrying out programs and fighting for affordable spaces where ideas can take root. Spaceworks Tacoma is affiliated with the University through the Summer Fellowship Internship program (SFI), and year after year, Puget Sound students work with them to gain experience in the professional art world. The organization was founded in 2010 as a joint initiative between the city of Tacoma and the...

To the staff and readers of The Trail,    We are Tacoma residents and researchers with the Uyghur Human Rights Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the rights of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim peoples in East Turkistan, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, through research-based advocacy.    Recent reporting in the Tacoma News Tribune detailed a week-long trip by a seven-member Tacoma delegation to China, where local officials met with municipal leaders and participated in events marking the 55th anniversary of “Ping Pong Diplomacy.” According to spokesperson Maria...

Response to Letter to the Editor from AFAM 399: Public Scholarship in The Trail: To the Editor-in-Chief, Staff, and Readers of The Trail: Thank you for the opportunity to share information in response to the letter to the Editor by the Spring 2026 AFAM 399: Public Scholarship class, which expresses concerns about the process to appoint our incoming interim vice president for institutional equity and diversity. As I shared in my campus message on January 27, 2026, I made the decision to suspend the search for our next vice president...

Letters to the editor serve as a vital contribution to campus conversations, which The Trail aims to facilitate. The views they articulate belong to the authors alone, and publication of letters to the editor does not represent an endorsement of those views by The Trail or any of its contributors.  To the staff and readers of The Trail, We, the Spring 2026 AFAM 399: Public Scholarship class, are writing in response to this semester’s search process for the new Vice President of Institutional Equity and Diversity (VPIED). Through our course,...

Eleanor Winterfeldt, ‘26 George Slaats, ‘27   Each day on campus, students weave between pedestrians, racing to class on vintage Marketplace finds or sleek new road bikes. It’s a scene that’s become a hallmark of life at Puget Sound. The Trail sat down with five students who bike regularly, whether they’ve just started or have been riding since childhood. They shared their stories, favorite rides and what makes their bikes uniquely theirs. Eleanor Winterfeldt, ‘26 Q: How long have you been biking consistently, and why did you get into biking? “I...