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Pomona College, Claremont McKenna College, Scripps College,
Harvey Mudd College and Pitzer College have all canceled
classes for Wednesday, March 10, in a show of solidarity in
response to a hate crime that occurred Tuesday night in a
parking lot shared by Pomona and Claremont McKenna colleges. The five
colleges are all members of The Claremont College consortium
and located on contiguous campuses.
According to reports, a car belonging to a Claremont McKenna
faculty member who had just taken part in a forum on hate
speech was vandalized sometime between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Tuesday. The windows of the car were broken, the tires
slashed, and the body of the vehicle spray-painted with
racial, misogynist and anti-Semitic epithets. Claremont
Police are currently investigating the incident, which has
been formally classified as a hate crime. Claremont McKenna
College has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading
to a solution to the crime.
Pomona College President David Oxtoby urged students and
faculty to use the day to come together to demonstrate their
unity in opposing acts of intimidation and to discuss future
steps to build trust and improve the climate of racial
understanding on campus. “We must realize that education
needs to take place outside as well as inside the
classroom,” President Oxtoby wrote to the College community
Wednesday morning. “I ask that each of you use this change
in daily routines to further this education.”
A number of events have been scheduled for The Claremont
Colleges campuses during this “Day of Solidarity and
Teaching,” leading up to a rally at 8 p.m. tonight (March
10) on the Claremont McKenna campus.
Here is a list of scheduled events:
8 a.m.-Noon — Teach-in and gathering on Pomona’s
Marston Quad, to give students an opportunity to discuss the
incident and other incidents involving hate speech in
recent weeks.
Starting at 9:30 a.m., continuing through the day
— Film of the vandalized car may be viewed in the Rose
Hills Theatre in Smith Campus Center on Pomona’s campus.
10 a.m. — A gathering at the Office of Black
Student Affairs (East 7th Street). The gathering will
move from OBSA to Collins Dining Hall at Claremont McKenna
at 11 a.m. in an expression of solidarity with other
campuses.
Noon-6 p.m. — A sit-in on the North Quad of
Claremont McKenna College. All community members are welcome
to sit and discuss their reactions, feelings and ideas as a
show of support for those threatened by this incident and a
stand against acts of hate.
5 p.m. — A Pomona College community meeting on
Marston Quad. Students, faculty and staff are invited to
continue the discussion of Tuesday night's incident and
Pomona’s response to it.
6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. — Dinner for Pomona students, faculty
and staff on Marston Quad.
8 p.m. — A culminating
rally at Claremont McKenna College’s North Quad, with a
range of student speakers.
Tuesday's incident came on the heels of a series of other
events involving hate speech or racial insensitivity that
had angered the college communities in recent weeks.
The first of those, which took place in January, during the
colleges’ winter break, involved the theft of a student
artwork in the shape of a cross from the Pomona College
campus by a group of students from three sister campuses,
who took the cross to Harvey Mudd College and burned it
there. The event sparked a series of protests and forums on
the campuses dealing with questions of hate speech and hate
crime.
Another incident involved a campus group that organized a
scavenger hunt, one item of which was a photograph including
10 "Asian" students. The group later publicly apologized.
Subsequently, a letter from a Pomona student to the student
newspaper explaining why he had found that incident
offensive and troubling drew a flurry of racist and
threatening responses on the newspaper's online bulletin
board. Eventually, the responses were all traced to sources
outside The Claremont Colleges.
A third incident occurred on the campus of Claremont McKenna
College at the end of February, involving a calendar on a
residence hall bulletin board that was defaced with a racial
epithet.
"I am shocked that such an appalling crime has taken place
in our midst." Oxtoby said. "A community like ours has a
degree of fragility, and this action strikes at the
community and makes all of us vulnerable. When some of our
members feel threatened, we all do."
Related stories:
3/19/04: In wake of police report
calling hate crime at CMC a hoax, colleges reaffirm
commitment to improving our community.
3/11/04: Pomona College joins other
Claremont Colleges in day of solidarity.
3/10/04: Pomona College joins other Claremont Colleges in
canceling classes for one day on March 10 in response to
hate crime. |
