Students from 15 organizations across the 5Cs gathered at The Motley Coffeehouse last Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the third semesterly “Leftist Coffee Hour.”
During the event, student representatives from the leftist-identifying organizations conducted two-minute presentations about their missions, followed by a club showcase that allowed interested students to understand how to engage with issues such as environmental justice, prison abolition, affordable housing and more.
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Miranda Elder PO ’29, co-president of Inclusive Claremont, a club that advocates for affordable housing, said a key objective of the gathering is to build a robust community of activists.
“The primary reason [of the event] is to get people who are aligned with leftist values more involved so they can see what’s out there and be organized into a group where they can make a difference,” Elder said.
Lina McRoberts PO ’27, co-founder of 5C Critical Mass and student leader with Claremont Student Worker Alliance, underlined the same commitment to creating accessible spaces where student activists can convene.
As one of the event’s primary organizers since its inception, McRoberts said the gathering originated in response to several students being banned from Pomona College’s campus for occupying and vandalizing Carnegie Hall during an Oct. 7, 2024 demonstration for divestment from companies supporting the Israeli government.
“Ever since [the bannings], there’s sort of just been this growing pessimism and nihilism [among students],” she said.
She added that Leftist Coffee Hour aims to combat that pessimism by identifying a clear path for students looking to become involved in activism and providing a safe space for campus organizations.
Every edition of the Leftist Coffee Hour has been hosted at The Motley, which McRoberts noted has also been a focal point of leftist organizing in recent years.
On Oct. 5, 2024, Scripps College shut down The Motley following public controversy regarding a Palestinian flag on its wall and broader political organizing. The Motley was eventually reopened later that semester with blank walls, following negotiations with Scripps.
“Speaking about political dissent has always been welcomed at The Motley,” McRoberts said. “It’s really intended to provide students with a space to engage with one another and think critically about the world and the way in which we want to orient ourselves in [it].”
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Sophie Myers PZ ’27, a member of the executive board for the Inland Empire Support Network, a student group dedicated to supporting immigrant communities, highlighted the role events like this play in fostering connection and unity among student organizations.
“I think it builds community and a sense of joint solidarity and makes each individual organization more powerful and sort of bolstered by having all these other people in their corners,” Myers said.
Myers also noted that hosting events like the Leftist Coffee Hour is especially crucial under the Trump administration and “the reign of terror that they’ve inflicted on campus organizers.”
Concerns surrounding political expression extend across the consortium, as reflected in this year’s FIRE rankings, in which four of the five 5Cs received failing grades for their free speech environments. Myers said the changing climate of political organizing has not brought campus activism to a halt, but has reshaped how visibly students mobilize.
“When I got to these schools, there was such a culture of loud, vocal, ‘out there’ campus activism,” Myers said. “[In] a much more hostile federal administration, it makes sense to sort of recalibrate and shift political strategies. It doesn’t mean things aren’t still happening; it just means things that are happening might be happening more quietly.”
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