Students at the Claremont Colleges do not have a magic wand with which they can resolve geopolitical conflicts. I won’t pretend that the day after the referendum — an ASPC poll voted on by Pomona College students aimed at gauging student opinion on disclosure of investments in, academic boycott of and divestment from Israeli apartheid — we will wake up to a peaceful and just world.
But that doesn’t absolve us of the responsibility to act within our sphere of influence.
The call for divestment at Pomona is not an isolated act of moral pretentiousness on the part of students, but a conscientious decision to concern ourselves with the issues we have a stake in.
Referendums such as ours are powerful in three ways: they demand specific policy changes, they add to the record shifts in public discourse and they contribute to further shifts by promoting conversation relating to the ideas they espouse.
While students have already engaged in sit-ins, vigils and organized hundreds of students to delegate to administration, the institutional nature of the referendum legitimizes the pro-divestment stance in a way that Pomona cannot continue to ignore.
Why divestment? Because divestment is historically successful.
The divestment movement against South Africa is an example of how sustained pressure led to the collapse of apartheid; an analysis of the role of university movements in this particular case shows precisely how student divest campaigns pushed public consciousness towards accepting divestment before it was accepted by the status quo.
By 1985, 55 institutions of higher education had partially or fully divested and by August of 1988, that number had grown to 155. In 1986, Pitzer College and Claremont Graduate University voluntarily divested their endowments from South African apartheid in response to student pressure, including a “South Africa Awareness” week organized by Students Against Apartheid, a Candlelight March hosted by the BSU and various demonstrations by students and faculty.
Although Pomona failed in its past moral obligation — by refusing to divest 13.4 million dollars of its endowment from South African apartheid until it was mandated by CA Assembly Bill 134 — our administration has a chance to get it right this time.
The history of social change is replete with examples where small, seemingly inconsequential actions have galvanized broader societal shifts. It’s dialectic —movements give rise to actions and actions give rise to movements.
It would be disingenuous to suggest we know what comes next, but there is no need to pretend this referendum is meritless. Pomona students are following in the example of student movements from institutions including Columbia and Harvard, as well as the unprecedented success of the South African student divestment movement.
These prior referendums were not empty, self-congratulatory gestures, but a part of a growing chorus demanding accountability and change. The success of these movements in shifting public discourse and influencing policy underscores the real, material power of collective action.
But Pomona is not the primary source of funding for the Israeli Defense Force. Even if students successfully pressure Pomona into divestment, what difference will it make? What is the point?
We are calling on Pomona to take concrete steps to ensure that neither our tuition money nor our endowment is funding the slaughter of civilians.
Last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered six provisional measures regarding the ongoing actions of the state of Israel in Gaza. These provisions are accompanied by reputable human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in upholding the lived realities of Palestinians on the ground which the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement has been calling us to acknowledge since 2005.
As Israel continues its campaign — which has resulted in over 28,000 killed and 67,000 injured— nearly every credible human rights organization has agreed that Israel is actively committing human rights violations en masse.
On Monday, Feb 12., 95 civilians were killed in Rafah — an area formerly designated a safe zone — by what Amnesty International called “unlawful strikes.” On Thursday, Feb. 15, patients were forced to flee Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis under tank and machine gun fire.
As you read this, Palestinians in Gaza are undergoing a kind of abuse and dehumanization that is not to be tolerated under any circumstance.
The referendum refuses the normalization of this violence —which was described by South Africa at the ICJ as “genocidal in character” — through institutional pathways. Moreover, it allows our community to thoughtfully engage in questions that ask about institutional responsibilities and a fundamental commitment to human life.
I feel Pomona is violating an essential ethical commitment by continuing to fund Israeli apartheid and I stand with many of my peers in this conviction. I am confident the referendum will demonstrate this tangibly and demonstrably, pressuring Pomona to respond.
Polling will open on Feb. 19 and close on Feb. 21.
Associated Students of Pomona College uses ranked choice voting. In this election, select ‘1’ under your choice and leave the other blank.
By participating in this referendum, you, as a student, are doing a small deed to contribute to a much larger, global movement for justice and human rights; by participating in this referendum, we, as an institution, are not only voicing our stance on a specific issue but also affirming our belief in the potential of collective action to drive meaningful change.
In the face of global challenges that demand urgent action, the question is not singularly whether a referendum at Pomona can make a significant difference — but how we, as an empathetic intellectual community, choose to respond to the call for justice.
Ben Brady PO ’25 is a History student from Phoenix, AZ. He enjoys Suns basketball, HBO shows and bothering his friends. This is the first article he has written for TSL.
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