From Feb. 19-21, Pomona College students will be asked to vote on a referendum authored by Divest Claremont Colleges and realized by ASPC to measure student opinion on Pomona’s relationship with the state of Israel.
The problem? The referendum is being presented to students in a wholly one-sided manner.
The context page contains misleading and inflammatory language and the “Vote yes” campaign has used unauthorized and unethical means to promote it.
The campaign has violated the very rules they set for themselves.
The “Vote yes” campaign began at least six days before the referendum was officially announced via social media posts and the distribution of flyers under room doors in residence halls. The latter is a blatant violation of the Housing and Residence Life policies, as well as the college’s flyer policy.
Students have also been randomly contacted electronically by the “Vote yes” campaign, which is invasive.
Perhaps those playing fast and loose are taking after the ASPC Senate, who themselves bent the rules to approve the referendum in the first place in more ways than one.
When the referendum was first introduced to the ASPC Senate, ASPC’s website was down. This means students were unable to access both the meeting minutes of ASPC’s discussion as well as the copy of the referendum itself.
At their next meeting, the Senate sought to vote on undisclosed changes to the referendum and, when they ran out of time, they opted to vote on Slack. This is a breach of the Senate’s bylaws.
During the meeting, some students spoke up against the referendum. Their concerns involved the language used in the “Referendum Information Sheet” provided to the Senate.
Combining both inaccurate and inflammatory language, the referendum states, “Al Jazeera records the State of Israel has martyred at least 24,285 civilians.” Al Jazeera, the quoted source, does not list this figure as civilian deaths, but simply “people killed.”
Why is the referendum’s wording misleading? Because, as Al Jazeera admits, the statistic does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths. In fact, the Israeli government claims that one-third of those killed in Gaza are Hamas militants.
Regardless of how accurate or inaccurate the Israeli estimate is, the referendum’s figure is a misrepresentation of their own source’s data. This is one example of the referendum’s idle commitment to the truth.
And then there’s the use of the word “martyred.”
Of all possible words, the referendum uses a religiously, emotionally and politically charged verb. Is it fair to include such contestable language in an informational blurb — one that’s meant to contextualize an important vote?
Imagine this: Before casting a vote in the 2024 presidential election, every voter is forced to watch a segment of Fox News. Nobody would consider that election fair. The way that this referendum will be presented to Pomona students is no different.
The authors of this referendum claim that it is necessary to gauge student opinion. Why, then, use one-sided, divisive language and coercive campaign tactics?
The vote is not as much a clear-eyed attempt to poll students as it is a push poll, a political trick that uses the structure of a poll to manipulate public opinion.
Before proceeding to the poll questions, the referendum instructs voters to proceed “given the definitions above” — and references the inflammatory information sheet.
Question styles like this one, where an individual or organization uses the format of a poll to sway a voter’s opinion, have been definitively condemned by the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
So, Pomona students will vote. Then what?
Should a majority of students vote yes, nothing will change.
As suggested at the Student Endowment Webinar on Feb. 6, chances are that the college will not adhere to the results of the referendum for multiple reasons including legal obligations related to the endowment.
No lives will be saved by the referendum.
Students who wrote the referendum and voted for it will feel satisfied for a moment and students who disagree with the referendum or find it offensive will be hurt.
Most importantly, passing the referendum will launch us back into the cycle of the past few months: The college will do nothing; people will get angry; and, instead of having meaningful and fruitful discussions, we will turn the wheel into anger, hate and despair.
Emilio N. Bankier PO ’27, Leo Kalb Bourke PO ’25 and Noah Rinsler PO ’26 came to Pomona believing that they were coming to a place where words, ideas and respect mattered. They hope that’s still the case.
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