According to Pomona College’s Speech Code, “Pomona College believes that free speech is critical to Pomona College’s mission as an educational institution, and therefore, the norm is that speech and other forms of expression are protected.” However, recent events on campus paint a starkly different picture, particularly for Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students advocating for human rights while protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza. These students have faced both institutional resistance and seemingly violent suppression, raising serious concerns about Pomona College’s commitment to fostering free speech and protecting its students. The university also faces an investigation by the Department of Education over whether it has met its Title VI obligations to respond to alleged harassment of Palestinian, Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA), and Muslim students and whether it has itself violated Title VI by engaging in disparate treatment toward those students.
Marginalization of Anti-Genocide Students at Pomona College
Though Pomona College claims to value free speech, it is apparent that the free speech of students who overwhelmingly voted for divestment from companies involved in the genocide of Palestinians was neither protected nor heard. In February 2024, Pomona College’s student government released a referendum that saw a 59.2% turnout, with 78.29% in favor of ending academic support for Israel, 86.17% in favor of disclosing investments in companies supporting the Israeli apartheid system, and 81.67% in favor of divesting from those companies. Additionally, 90.79% voted for disclosing investments in weapons manufacturers, and 85.16% voted for divesting from them. Nonetheless, in an email to the student body, Pomona College President Gabrielle Starr reportedly expressed public opposition to the referendum. Starr wrote that while there are “many ways to help heal a broken world,” the referendum was “not one of them” and moreover claimed that the referendum, which was critical solely of the Israeli state’s policies, “raises the specter of antisemitism.” This reaction demonstrates how Pomona College administrators have sought to restrict even university-approved means for which many students have articulated their support for Palestinian human rights.
Escalation of Police Force Against Student Protesters
In addition to blatantly disregarding the calls of its elected student leadership, Pomona College administration has also opted to violently crackdown on student protesters. In April 2024, Pomona College’s President Starr reportedly deployed “25 vehicles’ worth of riot police to a Palestine solidarity demonstration,” where 20 students from the Claremont Colleges consortium were reportedly arrested. The students reportedly entered a campus building, as well as President Starr’s office, for a non-violent protest after the college removed the ‘apartheid wall’ that students had constructed in protest of Israeli state policies of apartheid and occupation. According to faculty at the Claremont Consortium, “civil disobedience and peaceful protests by students were met with tactical gear and assault rifles.” Police were reportedly seen “physically pushing student reporters out of the room and closing window blinds to prevent them from documenting the situation.” Multiple students report leaving the site with injuries: “My hands are like scarring over from the zip ties [from] bleeding,” Sinqi Chapman, one Pomona College student, said, “and I still have the knife marks on . . .the palm of my hand,” describing when police used knives to cut the zip ties at the station. One student detailed being “grabbed, kicked and having their head hit against the police van in the course of their arrest.” An attorney for the students claimed that he was not permitted to see his clients and that his clients and a police officer told him that they were not read their Miranda rights. In August, the college refused to call for criminal charges against their own students to be dropped. Prosecutors, however, agreed to drop the charges if the arrested students avoid criminal charges for six months and complete community service hours.
Institutional Bias and Intimidation Tactics
Shortly following the arrests, Palestine Legal assisted students in filing a complaint with the Department of Education over an environment of anti-Palestinian racism. In addition to its violent crackdown on protesters, Pomona College stands accused of threatening to unmask students allegedly following the request of an Israel advocacy group to identify protesters and failing to respond to a Hillel affiliate who reportedly “pressured students to dox student activists.” In August 2024, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into whether Pomona College has met its Title VI obligations to respond to alleged harassment of Palestinian, SWANA, and Muslim students and whether Pomona College violated Title VI by engaging in disparate treatment toward those students.
Silencing of Free Speech and Student Activism
In the fall of 2024, Pomona College reaffirmed its hostile culture by silencing free speech and activism with new policies that introduced a sweep of restrictions on access, hiring of new “campus safety” personnel, and new restrictions on speech and protest, including bans on encampments, which have been largely peaceful student-led sit-ins to call for Palestinian human rights. However, Pomona College administrators have opted to designate encampments as a violation of college policy, and anyone who does not comply with these restrictions may be subject to “internal disciplinary process and citation, detention and arrest by law enforcement.” Such tactics appear to be yet another attempt at silencing student activists who have sought to protest the ongoing genocide in Gaza. While Pomona College claims to be “a globally recognized institution in Southern California—a region at the forefront of diversity, openness, and innovation,” this reported environment of fear and repression contradicts such statements. Pomona College is instead reportedly creating a campus culture where Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students who oppose occupation, apartheid, and genocide are forced to choose between their personal safety and their activism.
