This September, anonymous artists have taken to Pomona College’s Walker Wall to express their views on presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. First, the wall was painted with the phrase “Fuck Donald Trump,” and later with the addendum “and his small hands.” About two weeks later, another posting appeared next to it that read “No More Wars, Fuck Hillary.”
Some Pomona students filed complaints about the Walker Wall displays, according to Pomona College Dean of Students Miriam Feldblum.
“We initiated a review of the Walker Wall posts for (1) the Trump posting, and then (2) the Clinton posting in response to notification of the postings and complaints about the postings, and then reviewed it again when we received an additional complaint,” Feldblum wrote in an email to TSL.
According to Feldblum, the review committee, which consisted of Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) President Christina Tong, North Campus Representative Carlos Hernandez, Dean of Campus Life Chris Waugh, and faculty in residence Paul Cahill, determined that the posts did not violate Pomona College’s Walker Wall Policy.
Not all students were opposed to the postings. Courtney Dean PO ‘19 wrote in an email to TSL that the Trump posting “makes me smile every time I see it.”
“I was really worried Pomona would paint over it but it makes me really happy that it’s stayed up this long,” Dean wrote. “It promotes freedom of speech, which is the reason why Walker Wall began being painted in the first place.”
Feldblum added in her email that “other students can always paint over postings on Walker Wall.”
This article was updated on Sept. 23 to reflect the fact that the two phrases “Fuck Donald Trump” and “and his small hands” did not appear on Walker Wall at the same time, as the article originally suggested. TSL regrets the error.