Pomona College is committed to upholding free speech and the right to protest within the lines of our Claremont Colleges demonstration policy. We always attempt to maintain flexibility in handling student protest, in support of student activism and our history.
However, in recent weeks, we have seen escalating acts of harassment and intimidation carried out against visitors and students by masked, unidentified individuals who refuse to identify themselves. The anonymity of those individuals violating our conduct codes is inherently unsafe and unsustainable for the operation of our campus.
The persistent stalking and harassment of visitors here for campus tours in recent weeks also is unacceptable and required the College to take additional steps to maintain safety on our campus. We have repeatedly heard from individuals who reported feeling intimidated – students, staff, faculty and visitors.
What happened at Alexander Hall on Friday, April 5 was not peaceful protest, as masked individuals pushed their way past the president and other campus employees to occupy the president’s office and refused to leave despite repeated warnings to do so.
Claremont police arrived at our request due to safety concerns. At no point were weapons drawn or pointed at anyone and administrators had carried out discussions with police beforehand regarding warning students and providing another opportunity to leave before making arrests.
Before any arrests were made, Campus Safety also spent a significant amount of time trying to convince students to leave and gave them numerous opportunities to leave the building and many protesters did choose to leave. For those who did not, we are following our normal process in using interim suspensions in advance of our full Judicial Board process, which is ongoing.
After refusing an additional chance to leave, 20 individuals were arrested for trespassing and were later released to appear in court in the future. They included eight Scripps College, seven Pomona College and five Pitzer College students.
The seven Pomona students involved were issued an immediate interim suspension and required to leave campus. Appeals, per normal process, are underway. The Student Affairs team reached out to those Pomona students since they were released and provided alternative options for housing and food the next day.
While we understand that disruption is a goal of protest, we also need to ensure the safety of our community due to the risk caused by unidentifiable individuals protesting on our campus.
Here are some key details and background regarding the situation:
Incidents on Campus
Background
- Unidentified, masked individuals have repeatedly disrupted and/or forced the cancellation of events on our campus since October 2023, including Pomona’s Family Weekend events, a gathering for high school counselors and Harvey Mudd College’s Presidential Inauguration.
- Our response has been graduated, with repeated warnings and reminders of policy. President Starr has repeatedly offered to meet with students and multiple dialogue sessions including students, faculty and staff have been held. However, the violations from some individuals have escalated.
- In December 2023, masked individuals disrupted an admissions event and a visiting school counselor who raised questions was doxed online. Disciplinary measures were taken through our established judicial process.
Escalating Violations and Smith Campus Center Lawn Events
- More recently, masked individuals set up an encampment in the center of campus and from there, pairs of individuals repeatedly went out to intercept admissions tours. They then carried out prolonged harassment of visitors touring campus by using sound amplifiers to persistently stalk the groups and drown out all other speech with their messages.
- The protesters did not apply for permission to use the space to protest when they set up the encampment and displayed their large signboards. Despite the fact that they did not follow any of our posting/demonstration protocols, we allowed those signboards, and the encampment, to remain in place. Our one absolute requirement was to stop the following of families and high school students to intimidate those visitors and overcome any attempt to communicate with each other and with the tour guides while outside.
- Campus employees repeatedly warned the masked individuals, verbally and in writing, to stop the tour-stalking behavior and identify themselves. They would not. Campus Safety then issued the same warnings with no compliance.
- On April 5, after protesters had removed their tents overnight, campus employees acting in line with our code began to remove large signboards protesters had placed near the encampment in violation of posting policies. Protesters prevented the employees from completing the removal by blocking them.
- Protesters were offered the option of moving the signboards to Walker Wall or into storage. Protesters would not discuss it.
- Student affairs staff, accompanied by Campus Safety officers, called on the protestors to disperse over and over again. They refused. Campus staff moved to Alexander in an attempt to deescalate the situation as more protesters converged on the location.
Alexander Hall Incident
- Instead of dispersing, some 30-45 minutes after the administrators left the area in an effort to deescalate, the masked protestors proceeded to Alexander Hall, which had been closed as a precaution.
- A faculty member approached President Starr to ask if she would meet with a delegation of student protesters. Starr agreed to do so and went to prepare a room to meet.
- Campus Safety officers allowed the individuals into the building. President Starr told them they would need to remove their masks before meeting with her.
The individuals entering Alexander Hall refused to take off their masks, pushed their way past President Starr to climb the stairs and proceeded to occupy her office as well as the lobby on the second floor.
This behavior was actively threatening, especially given that all the individuals were masked and disguised and there was no way of determining whether they were students. They would not respond when addressed by the president, the dean, or any other member of staff or campus safety.
The protesters were repeatedly told to leave (and were never prevented from doing so). - A significant number of protesters did leave, were not required to identify themselves and will not face sanctions. More than an hour transpired between the storming of the office and the arrival of Claremont Police inside the building.
- Claremont police arrived at our request due to safety concerns. At no point were weapons drawn or pointed at anyone (and the riot gear did not come at the request of the college).
- Administrators had carried out discussions with police beforehand regarding warning students with an opportunity to leave before making arrests. Those discussions also left us with high confidence in the potential for de-escalation.
- Before any arrests were made, Campus Safety spent a significant amount of time trying to convince students to leave and gave them numerous opportunities to leave the building.
- After refusing an additional chance to leave, 20 individuals were arrested for trespassing and were later released to appear in court in the future.
- They included eight Scripps, seven Pomona and five Pitzer students. Some of the students from other campuses are enrolled in Pomona classes.
- The seven Pomona students involved were issued an immediate interim suspension and required to leave campus. The College is offering food and housing assistance. Appeals, per normal process, are underway.
Resources for Students
- The Student Affairs team reached out to those Pomona students since they were released and provided alternative options for housing and food on April 6.
- The original message to students on the evening of April 5 also provided students with instructions on how to access their belongings on campus.
- Regarding suspensions, the process of the preliminary sanction review board is now complete. Some Pomona students will remain off campus while access to campus has been restored for others. We will not give further updates on private judicial processes.