Welcome back to the second edition of The Student Slant, SUNN’s new biweekly newsletter, breaking down recent headlines into the points most pressing for students like you and me. Go back and read the first edition if you missed it!
Now to the news — and the takeaways for young people.
The Headline
All eyes are still on the Strait of Hormuz.
The Rundown
The Strait of Hormuz, a shipping channel south of Iran that transports huge amounts of the world’s oil and other goods, has become a major point of contention in ongoing negotiations between the U.S., Iran, and Israel, since traffic through it directly affects the global economy.
Near the end of the original two-week ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Iran — which Trump extended indefinitely Tuesday — Iran claimed to have seized two international ships in the Strait due to a violation of regulations. The White House said Wednesday that this did not qualify as a violation of the ceasefire. Iran then struck two ships in the Strait on Wednesday, essentially halting all traffic, which had already slowed to a trickle.
The Student Slant
The ongoing conflict has profoundly changed day-to-day life for Iranian students; American students should be aware that impacts are coming for life here as well. As disagreements over the Strait of Hormuz continue to escalate, we’ll keep feeling the effects in our gas prices, and in the costs of other everyday items, from condoms to plane tickets.
The Headline
FBI Director sues The Atlantic over their allegations of his on-the-job drinking.
The Rundown
In an article published last Friday, The Atlantic alleged that Kash Patel has become known around the FBI watercooler for his excessive alcohol consumption and erratic behavior. On one occasion, the exposé claims, his associates asked for “breaching equipment” to enter his office since he was unresponsive behind a locked office door. The article quotes several anonymous sources who said they’re concerned Patel’s conduct is a national-security vulnerability — particularly at a moment when the U.S. is locked in conflict with a state sponsor of terrorism — and could jeopardize the agency.
Now, Patel has sued the publication and the article’s author, Sarah Fitzpatrick, for defamation, seeking $250 million in damages. In the suit, filed Monday, Patel calls the investigation “replete with false information,” and points to the anonymity of the sources used to corroborate the article’s claims. In a piece published yesterday, Fitzpatrick expressed minimal concern about the impending lawsuit. “I stand by every single word of this report,” she said.
The Student Slant
Patel is only the latest in a long string of Trump administration officials to come under public fire for their professional conduct. Though his name recognition may not be as high as Trump’s, Patel has an important role that impacts public safety and dictates the behavior of a huge, influential government body: Understanding who’s doing that job, and what his performance looks like, is an element of understanding how effectively our government is operating.
The Headline
Coachella 2026—headlined by Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Karol G—wraps up after two weekends of poppy performances and constant content creation.
The Rundown
This year’s Coachella music festival saw 160 artists performing across seven stages over two weekends in Indio, California. The festival began in the late ’90s with rock- and dance-focused lineups; now, pop megastars dominate a festival schedule packed with diverse performers to appeal to the festival’s hundreds of thousands of attendees.
While Coachella has long been an event rife with celebrity appearances — see: Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry — it has also more recently become influencer central. Attending Coachella on a sponsored brand trip is an important status symbol for up-and-coming influencers, and content created at the festival draws massive online attention.
The Student Slant
The festival is an annual pulse-check for pop culture and the influencer world: Who’s headlining? Who’s dominating the YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok algorithm with their festival vlogs and fit checks? Coachella content offers a quick, salient reminder of what’s in (2016 nostalgia), what’s out (being afraid to talk about money), and what the pop culture politics of our precise moment look like (might the reappearance of Justin Bieber’s falsetto be enough to heal our warring world?).
