Student organizations from across the 5Cs gathered at the Motley Coffeehouse on Friday, Nov. 7 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for the first 5C “Leftist Coffee Hour.” 13 activist groups tabled and presented about how they mobilize to address topics such as mutual aid, food insecurity, homelessness, environmental justice issues and organizing at the 5Cs.
According to co-lead of the Campaign Working Group of 5C Environmental Justice, Milo Slevin PO ’28, Leftist Coffee Hour was one of over 100 nationwide events that took place on Nov. 7 in a national day of leftist student mobilization. Nevertheless, Slevin said the Claremont Leftist Coffee Hour was unique in its emphasis on local community, not necessarily focusing on the national issues that bigger campuses might have been addressing.
“We asked the question: how could we just be in community with each other as civically engaged people, as people who are both fearful and determined in this really difficult political movement?” Slevin said. “There are a lot of actors that are kind of trying to tear leftist movements apart, trying to fear monger, trying to intimidate and this was really a good chance to just come together and be in community with each other.”
The emcee of the event and founder of student organization 5C Critical Mass, Lina McRoberts PO ’27, said the idea for the leftist coffee hour arose after representatives from a few 5C leftist organizations met a couple of times at the beginning of the semester in hopes of forming a coalition at the 5Cs.
“There seems to sort of be an archetype of people who organize at the 5Cs and sometimes it can feel difficult to see yourself as an organizer, even if you have organized in the past,” McRoberts said. “So I think the point was to sort of create a space where people who have, like a whole bunch of organizing experience and no organizing experience could come and learn what leftist organization is and how they could get more involved in that.”
According to McRoberts, event organizers asked each organization to make their own slides and come to the event with an action item, such as attending a teach-in or promoting submission to a zine.
Slevin said he hoped that people left the event with some sense of how to plug into various campaigns and efforts unfolding on campus.
“The event was not as much about ‘leftism’ as it was about building a strong community on our campuses and a community of support, a community of trust, a community people really feel empowered to enact change,” he said. “That was kind of the big goal, and I think we really succeeded at that.”
Chase Allbritton SC ’28, who attended the coffee hour with a friend, said she thought the event was a great way to connect students with clubs that make tangible impacts.
“All the organizers at the coffee hour have been putting so much energy supporting people on both local and global levels, and I really loved hearing about their work,” Albritton said. “Right now is an essential time to highlight student activism and we’re all capable of enacting change.”
Slevin said that they chose to have the event at the Motley given its central location and unique role on campus.
“It’s one of the only spaces on campus where students actually hold power over the space that we inhabit, and we make decisions,” McRoberts said. “In an environment like the 5Cs, where so much ‘community’ is curated by this institutional branding, I think the Motley stands apart as a space of real self-determination.”
Allbritton said she walked away feeling excited for the future.
“I just love events where people are coming together and building community, and I’m interested in future events where clubs collaborate,” Allbritton said. “I’d also love to attend more events focused on building community as organizing is always stronger when you know people.”
5C groups in attendance at the event included the Encampment Support Network, Claremont Student & Worker Alliance, 5C Environmental Justice, 5C Prison Abolition Collective, Inland Empire Support Network, People’s Fund, Mudders Making an Ethical World, Inclusive Claremont, Students for Justice in Palestine, Nobody Fails at the 5Cs, Asian American Pasifika Alliance, 5C Critical Mass and Clean Air Claremont.
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