On July 16, the Coop Store at Pomona College sparked controversy with two promotional Instagram posts created using generative artificial intelligence (AI).
The posts drew criticism from students and other Instagram users, with comments criticizing the Coop Store for using generative AI instead of commissioning student artists. Within roughly a day, the posts were gone.
While the Coop Store is technically operated by the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC), ASPC President Malu Estoducto PO ’27 said in an interview with TSL that its management and student employees maintain “relative autonomy” over their operations, including Instagram posts. Estoducto said she could not confirm the individual who made the posts, but that they were not created by a member of ASPC staff or senate.
Estoducto attributed the AI use in part to the Coop Store’s new management and a potential unfamiliarity with AI perceptions on campus.
“I think that’s a big, big part of why there was this disconnect between how ASPC Senate might prefer to do outreach and how Coop Store’s new management decided to go about graphic design […],” she said. “But we’ve been in conversations with them, clarifying our own take on AI and AI use for ASPC.”
The posts and accompanying controversy prompted ASPC to discuss AI use at their senate meeting on Sept. 10.
In the meeting, senators broadly agreed that ASPC and the Coop Store should avoid AI-generated promotional materials.
Senators did not adopt a permanent policy at the meeting. They did pass a motion temporarily prohibiting ASPC senate and staff from using AI in external communications while they develop a more specific resolution governing its use. The scope and language of that policy, including how to establish clear standards without policing individuals’ behavior, remains undecided.
ASPC is also considering issuing a public statement opposing the use of AI-generated materials.
Estoducto said the organization hopes to expand the conversation beyond ASPC and develop a shared approach with Pomona administrators.
“We also will look into having larger conversations with the administration about AI use because it is such a hot topic, especially in academia,” she said in an interview with TSL. “I think it’s important to have some sort of co-governance and shared understanding and ethos about AI use.”
Although the Coop Store posts over the summer were quickly removed, their brief appearance reignited recent discussion about AI use on college campuses beyond the classroom. Since July, TSL has contacted managers and employees responsible for dining and retail operations across the consortium to gauge whether and how AI already fits into campus businesses.
In a statement to TSL, a Pomona College spokesperson said the college is assessing how AI is used across campus as it develops a broader institutional AI strategy aligned with the institution’s mission and values.
“One current application is in Dining Services, where an AI-powered platform helps staff reduce food waste through improved production planning,” they said, adding that since its implementation, the college has reported a 54% reduction in food overproduction.
Pitzer College Dining Services Manager Miguel Menjivar said McConnell Dining Hall, the Pit-Stop and Shakedown Cafe do not currently use AI and have no plans underway to introduce it.
“Nothing tangible,” Menjivar said when asked whether Pitzer Dining Services was considering adopting AI. “We don’t have any considerations about it.”
Right now, he sees little reason to change the department’s approach to using AI.
“We want to be able to meet our customers and get to know them and use that knowledge to advertise whatever we’re going to cook [and] what our menus are going to be,” Menjivar said. “I haven’t found anything that AI can do to replace that.”
While Menjivar said Pitzer Dining currently does not use AI, he did not take a stance against the technology, nor did he rule out future use. If a useful application of AI emerged in the future, he said Pitzer Dining would give it fair consideration, making sure it complied with Pitzer College’s policies, just like any other tool.
Across the street at Claremont McKenna College, Assistant Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement Nika Wells shared a similar response. She stated the CMC Supply Shop does not use AI to create merchandise designs or promotional materials. She noted that while AI was used three or four times to brainstorm merchandise names, it was not used in any public-facing materials.
“We’re open to exploring AI in the future if it makes sense for our operations,” Wells wrote in email correspondence with TSL, “but we don’t currently use it beyond that.”
At Pitzer’s Grove House, current and former managers have taken a more definitive stance on LLM use. Former caretaker Wynne Chase PZ ’26 said the essence of the Grove House is the student-run cafe’s informal, handmade promotional work.
Chase has used Notability to create Grove House posters and recalled her coworkers using Procreate, and much of the artwork and signage inside the Grove House has been created by students and staff. Beyond promotional materials, Chase described how the Grove House’s operations are defined by the students who work in the space: drinks appearing on the menu because employees made too much strawberry syrup, playlists changing depending on who takes over the aux and staff members improving systems through trial and error.
“The main message that I want to get across about the Grove House is that it’s so filled to the brim with humanity,” Chase said. “It’s so human.”
Similarly, incoming caretaker Lindsey Manugian PZ ’27 voiced their opposition to generative AI and said they plan to maintain the current approach.
Manugian cited the environmental and social impacts of AI data centers, the technology’s effects on artists’ jobs and its potential to strip people of their creativity. The Grove House, she said, is built on creativity –– from the cooking, to events, to music and art –– making generative AI a poor fit for the space.
“We definitely will not be using AI to make any graphics,” Manugian said. “It’ll definitely continue to all be designed by people.”
Perceptions of generative AI across the 5Cs remain complicated, begging questions about its use not only in classrooms but elsewhere on campus. Discussions within campus organizations offer an early glimpse of how 5C businesses may navigate AI’s growing role and how differently those decisions may unfold across the Claremont Colleges.
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