On Thursday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – the United States’ largest Muslim advocacy group – designated Pomona College as an “institution of particular concern,” citing its “hostile environment” and the “threat to the safety of Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students, staff, and faculty who stand against occupation, apartheid, and genocide.”
The report also identified the University of Michigan and the University of Georgia in this category, claiming that these institutions have not sufficiently protected their Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students. This is the most recent in a series of similar reports from CAIR.
“Pomona College’s actions have created an environment of repression and fear for students who are courageously and non-violently standing against Israel’s occupation, apartheid, and genocide in Palestine,” CAIR Los Angeles (CAIR-LA) Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said. “By designating Pomona College as an ‘Institution of Particular Concern,’ we are raising an alarm about the growing threat to the safety and rights of Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students who refuse to remain silent in the face of oppression.”
Ayloush emphasized CAIR-LA’s solidarity with any Pomona students facing backlash for their activism.
“CAIR-LA will continue to stand in solidarity with these students and demand that the college live up to its stated values of diversity, openness, and inclusion,” he said.
CAIR was founded in 1994 in Washington D.C. as a grassroots civil rights organization, but now has regional offices across the country. The organization’s website states that its mission is to “enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”
However, in the past year, the organization has faced backlash over leaders’ comments on Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In Dec. 2023, the Biden administration condemned comments made by the national executive director of CAIR, Nihad Awad, calling them “antisemitic.”
In its Oct. 31 report on Pomona, CAIR pointed to several actions taken by the administration that “raise concern” about the colleges’ claimed “commitment to fostering free speech and protecting its students.” These included the college’s opposition to a February referendum calling for changes regarding the college’s investments, the arrest of 20 students last April and the introduction of new “safety” regulations and restrictions for fall 2024.
“Institutions of higher education are spaces where students should feel welcome to engage in free speech and open inquiry over the most pressing issues of our time,” Farah Afify, CAIR’s national research and advocacy department coordinator, said in an email to TSL. “From blatantly marginalizing anti-genocide students to calling riot police on student protesters, Pomona College has seemingly betrayed its own mission as an educational institution.”
The report also cited a current investigation that Pomona is undergoing from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The investigation began in August and is looking into whether the college has sufficiently met its Title VI-designated responsibility to properly respond to “alleged harassment” of Palestinian, Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) and Muslim students.
“Pomona College is … creating a campus culture where Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students who oppose occupation, apartheid, and genocide are forced to choose between their personal safety and their activism,” the report reads.
In response to CAIR’s press release, a member of Pomona’s communications team highlighted the college’s stance on maintaining campus climate amidst divisions on campus.
“It is the College’s duty to protect free speech, but we will not tolerate discrimination in any form,” Patricia Vest, interim chief communications officer, said in an email to TSL. “Discrimination against any individual based on their ancestry, religion, creed, national origin, or political beliefs is not tolerated at Pomona.”
Following Pomona President G. Gabrielle Starr’s recent decision to suspend 12 Pomona students for their alleged involvement in an Oct. 7 pro-Palestinian demonstration, Vest commented on the college’s procedure regarding on-campus activism.
“During the last year, we have seen an escalation in protest tactics that have violated demonstration policies, student conduct codes, as well as the rights of other students, staff and faculty on our campus,” she wrote.
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