During Pitzer College’s Family Weekend, Claremont Student Workers Alliance (CSWA) initiated a boycott of Pitzer College’s McConnell dining hall to protest the administration’s refusal to rehire Adan Campos, a former employee who was fired in February 2024 while renewing his immigration paperwork. The boycott began on Friday, Nov. 8 and ended after brunch on Sunday, Nov. 10.
Last weekend’s boycott came after months of conflict between Pitzer’s administration and 5C community members who supported Campos’ return. Calls for the administration to rehire Campos, including a petition with over 1200 signatures, have been unsuccessful.
“We have no choice but to escalate with a boycott, which is something that impacts [Pitzer] monetarily,” participant Grayson Kunz PZ ’28 said.
During meal hours, participants formed a picket line around McConnell’s two main entrances, drumming, waving signs and chanting. Some participants passed out informational flyers to students and family members approaching the dining hall, encouraging them to boycott Pitzer dining services during Family Weekend.
According to members of CSWA, the boycott was aimed at hurting Pitzer financially. They explained that, when Pitzer students choose to eat at a different 5C dining hall, the college is required to pay that school for the meal.
“We made it so that Pitzer had a business incentive at that point to do the right thing,” a McConnell picketer, who requested anonymity for privacy concerns, said.
The boycott’s overlap with Family Weekend raised additional financial hurdles for the school. Many visitors who came for Family Weekend initially pre-purchased meal tickets to eat in McConnell, but since learning of the boycott, some have asked Pitzer for a refund. Pitzer has agreed to issue a refund to those who requested one.
Learning of this, picketers created an email template for anyone hoping to request a refund.
“If there are parents who have already paid for expensive meal tickets, it might not be financially feasible for them to go and replan their finances and have to go eat out for the whole weekend,” the anonymous picketer said. “We had some people who said, ‘Oh, that was the one thing that was stopping us from respecting the picket.’ And now that they had the refund form, they were able to actually turn away.”
Following the boycott’s official conclusion, those fighting for Campos’ rehiring say they look forward to continued calls for administrative action.
“We’re gonna continue to boycott, we’re gonna continue to cost money to Pitzer,” participant Paz Benitez-Lopez PO ’27 said. “We’re not interested in polite conversations with them where they just invalidate the cause completely because that’s just another tactic to get us to shut up.”
Campos echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the movement’s resilience.
“I feel like we’re just going to keep fighting back,” Campos said. “Hopefully [the Pitzer administration] is willing to negotiate.”
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