On Friday, March 1, dozens of students gathered in front of Pomona College’s Big Bridges Auditorium to delay the inauguration ceremony of Harvey Mudd College President Harriet B. Nembhard CM ’87 with a die-in demonstration, demanding that Pomona divest from the “apartheid system within the state of Israel.”
This is the second die-in at Pomona this academic year, being spurred by the results of last month’s Associated Students of Pomona College‘s (ASPC) referendum. The referendum, which asked students whether Pomona should disclose their investments and cut ties with companies and universities connected to the “apartheid system within the state of Israel,” demonstrated significant student support for both disclosure and divestment.
At the die-in, which started around 9 a.m., students covered in white sheets laid on the ground while organizers outlined them in red paint to symbolize the number of people killed by Israel’s ongoing siege of Gaza since Oct. 7, which has surpassed 30,000.
Through a speaker, organizers of the event played a recording of the names of Palestinian children under the age of two who had been killed by Israeli forces in the months since the Hamas-led ambush. Two organizers addressed the crowd that had gathered for the inauguration.
“This is a funeral,” they said. “Please be quiet and respect the martyred. They are all children under the age of two.”
Meanwhile, those who had gathered for Nembhard’s inauguration ceremony were informed that the event would still proceed in the auditorium, but that no audience would be allowed. Instead, the event would be live-streamed on YouTube, with a screening arranged at Harvey Mudd’s Galileo Hall.
At the protest, several staff members and event attendees could be observed stepping around the students and filming them with their phones while entering the auditorium.
Solomon Cooke HM ’25, a bystander at the die-in who had originally come for the inauguration, expressed his appreciation for the symbolism of the protest.
“I thought that the symbolism of the academics walking by in their gigantic and absurd dresses and gowns while people were lying, protesting for dead children in front of them, was very powerful,“ he said. “That was something I will probably never forget seeing.”
James Nicholson HM ’24, another bystander, expressed his disapproval of this protest.
“I would not have blocked the inauguration of [Mudd’s] President,“ Nicholson said. “I understand they want to make things about the war, they want to draw attention to it. I just think there are better ways to do that.”
Nicholson further argued that many of the people involved in recent protests did not appear to be thoroughly informed about the relevant historical context.
“I think a lot of these people who are protesting are maybe uninformed about the issues,” he said. “There are plenty of other wars going on right now. And there have always been, and it is interesting to me that this is the one war that people choose to protest so vehemently, it’s the war going on with the only Jewish state in the world.”
Despite the conflicting views of students and community members, organizing in support of Palestinian solidarity has continued on campus, including a vigil that was held on Wednesday, March 6 by Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine.
The continuing action on campus was punctuated by a recording played by organizers at the die-in.
“There will be no business as usual until senseless [Pomona President Gabrielle] Starr and her administrative accomplices listen to their students, who overwhelmingly support Pomona’s divestment, disclosure and an academic boycott,” the recording said.
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