Last month, a white junior on the Pomona-Pitzer Men’s basketball team laughed in the face of a Black student who called him out over his use of the N-word — which he repeatedly uttered while singing along to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” He did not miss a single minute of game time for the remainder of the season.
A Wasian first-year student on the P-P Men’s golf team continues to use the slur, even after repeated reprimands from his teammates. He, too, remains on the team.
A white member of the P-P’s men’s tennis team; multiple members of the P-P men’s swim team. No consequences.
Add to this list Pomona’s lackluster attempt at accountability: In an email to the student body on Tuesday, March 10, the administration mentioned a host of similar racially charged incidents including a professor’s repeated use of the N-word during class, and Black Student Union (BSU) members being harassed for “policy violations” by a staff member at a club event.
The title of that email read: “Addressing recent anti-Black bias incidents in our community.” Despite the subject line, the problems were not addressed, only acknowledged. This is insufficient.
Pomona College has a racism problem. Let’s call it what it is.
For a school that has been around for over a century, Pomona’s reactionary protocol to overt racism on campus is laughable. What does accountability mean when the administrative response to racial slurs is an invitation for dialogue? When the primary institutional reaction is bias training, workshops and meetings, there are no incentives to change. To live up to the ethical standards it espouses, Pomona College has an obligation to deliberately combat racism with concrete sanctions.
Pomona’s lack of accountability towards perpetrators of such “bias incidents” is conveniently supported by California’s Leonard Law, which protects hateful speech as students’ free expression under the First Amendment within the state’s education code. As such, “generalized threats” to groups of people are permissible.
Pomona acknowledges that even if speech is protected with the Leonard Law, it may not be “consistent with the College’s values as a supportive and inclusive campus community.” Yet, Pomona has willfully ignored numerous recent opportunities to discourage offensive conduct that contradicts their purported values. We can name a handful of racist incidents on campus, yet not a single sanction was given.
Substantial disciplinary punishment is replaced by Title IX training sessions — which student athletes are required to attend — and fluffy one-on-one dialogues. Pomona’s Bias Incident report team defines “proactive education of the community” toward combating “bias-related incidents” as ensuring that students understand “how incidents can be reported.” Another clause reminds students faced with racists that they can “exercise their right to walk away.” To put it simply: The college responds by asking the racist how they feel and telling victims what to feel.
Pomona’s inaction forces students to constantly face racist apologists on campus, in dining halls and on the court, their enrollment unaffected and game time uninterrupted. Rather than administering true consequences, accountability at Pomona looks like lengthy conversations in which jargon like “restorative justice” and questions like “What do you think your punishment should be?” are floated. Meanwhile, Black students are referred to counseling, the chaplaincy and a host of bureaucratic offices focused on “assisting and supporting.” Discipline, it seems, is optional, so long as students know where to locate the Bias Incident Response Form.
Why are Black students responsible for healing themselves of the audacious nature of another’s words? What of the racists?
Pomona is complicit. For a school that prides itself on admitting the “best-of-the-best” academically, we should expect the same standards to apply to students’ conduct. Twenty-somethings absolutely know the weight of their words. We are old enough to vote, old enough to lead organizations, old enough to represent this institution. Racial epithets do not slip out. Our school is not too progressive to call a red line a red line.
Discipline is not merely punishment: It is the declaration and enforcement of our core values. It tells a community what will be tolerated and what will not.
Pomona College, we demand you do more. If this institution will not act to retain and protect Black students, it should at least act to preserve the ideals of the liberal arts education it claims to embody. As an educational institution, it is your job to challenge the mind, not to coddle the comfortable and provide racists with a quiet, manicured quad on which to stroll.
Dialogue is not enough. Freedom of expression comes with responsibility. Black students demand that you hold students to the high standards expected of them in every other facet of campus life. This can begin in the classroom by requiring all students to complete a general education requirement in racial or ethnic studies.
Students — silence is complicity. Call out your peers. Athletes, hold your teammates accountable. Call out deplorable language. You know the weight your words carry, so act accordingly.
A school that continues to tout its diversity and inclusion ought to live up to it.
Kaitlyn Ulalisa PO ’27 is experiencing mild déjà vu between the flavor of this moment and the climate of her midwestern high school.
Mujeebat Gbolahan PO ’27 has a deep love for Pomona College, which is exactly what drives her desire to see it grow and change.
Facebook Comments