“The faculty condemns the present and future militarization and use of police on the campus. It insists that the College immediately drop criminal charges and reverse the suspensions and all related consequences against student protesters for their actions of civil disobedience."
On the afternoon of Friday, April 5, Claremont College students staged a peaceful protest calling for Pomona College to divest its support of Israel and the corporations that send weapons to Israel. As part of the protest, some 20 students occupied the Pomona College President’s Office. When told to leave, they didn’t, and within approximately 20 minutes, the Police, including Claremont Police and police from 3 neighboring cities, arrested 20 students, 19 for occupying the building and one for blocking the entrance. Police zip-tied their hands behind their backs and took them to the jail at the Claremont Police Department on Bonita Avenue in Claremont.
That same day according to the Claremont College newspaper, This Student Life, Pomona College's President Gabrielle G. Starr issued this email:
“I will issue interim suspensions to any Pomona students who may have been arrested today; indeed I directly informed the individuals in my office that this would be the case.”
Pomona College's faculty will be convening on Thursday, April 11, to vote on a resolution condemning the suspensions.
However, on Monday, April 8, Pitzer College’s Executive Committee of the Faculty (FEC) issued their own statement of condemnation, "The FEC. . . strongly condemns Pomona College’s escalatory police response to a peaceful protest that took place on April 5, 2024. We further condemn the decision to suspend and/or bar from Pomona’s campus the students arrested in connection to that protest. Denial of the free exchange of ideas and access to education is antithetical to our mission as an educational institution, and deeply harmful to our community.
We also acknowledge that such a police presence/response created a serious and wholly unnecessary risk and significant distrust for many Pitzer and 5C community members, particularly those of marginalized identities, and those who disproportionately bear the brunt of police brutality. No community members should feel unsafe or be threatened when engaging in peaceful protest.
We offer support to affected students and call on our community to make that support tangible, including, but not limited to: providing space on Pitzer’s campus, where possible, for Pomona’s classes to meet, extending support for students to be able to attend classes and complete their academic work, and offering flexibility and compassion to affected students in terms of deadlines and attendance.”
Julian Lucas, is a photographer, a purveyor of books, and writer, but mostly a photographer, but don’t ever ask him to take photos of events because he will charge you a lot of money. Julian is also the owner and founder of Mirrored Society Book Shop, publisher of The Pomonan, founder of Book-Store, and founder of PPABF.
Photography Julian Lucas ©2024
Updated April 9, 2024 | 3:44pm PT
Claremont, CA — On Friday afternoon, Claremont Police took 20 student protesters from the Claremont Colleges into custody for occupying Pomona College President Gabrielle Starr's Alexander Hall office on Pomona College’s campus. Reportedly, 18 were charged with misdemeanor trespassing for not leaving the premises even though they had been “given directives” to leave, according to Claremont Police officer Eric Orozco. Police arrested an additional protester for failing to clear the path as police began to enter the Hall.
Those arrested were part of 100 or so protesters who showed up on Pomona College’s campus to protest Pomona College’s refusal to divest itself from entities connected to Israel’s role in the war in Gaza.
After the arrest of the students, the protesters moved to Claremont’s Police Department offices where they waited in protest until the arrested students were released one by one. Helicopters from several news sources showed up to document the proceedings.
Earlier, police agencies from Claremont, Pomona, Azusa, Covina and La Verne had stood in full riot gear in riot formation in the middle of College Ave.
And, in an even earlier action, college administration forcefully removed student artwork, eight days after students at the Claremont Colleges erected a mock apartheid wall on Marston Quad. According to a press release from the student-led advocacy organization, Pomona Divest Apartheid, the students erected the work in order to “'illuminate Pomona College's complicity in the face of an illegal occupation and genocide.”
After questioning a Pomona Police Officer why they were in the city of Claremont, we also asked, doesn’t your presence in Claremont result in a “shortage of officers in Pomona, in a city with security issues of its own.? The officer's responded, ‘take that up with your city officials.’
Julian Lucas, is a photographer, a purveyor of books, and writer, but mostly a photographer. Don’t ever ask him to take photos of events because he will charge you a lot of money. Julian is also the owner and founder of Mirrored Society Book Shop, publisher of The Pomonan, founder of Book-Store, and founder of PPABF.
