Over the past week and a half, Pomona College has issued dozens of bans to non-Pomona 5C students for allegedly participating in the occupation and vandalism of Carnegie Hall during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Oct. 7.
Four days after the demonstration, on Oct. 11, President G. Gabrielle Starr condemned the protest as “unfathomable” in an email to the Pomona community. She added that the college would be moving forward with disciplinary action and warned the community about the range of possible punishments for identified individuals.
“I anticipate that, within the scope of the student code, and commensurate with individual circumstances, sanctions will range widely, including campus bans, suspension and expulsion,” she wrote.
She cited the Claremont Colleges’ Banning Disruptive Persons From Campus policy, which states that each college maintains the right to “prohibit disruptive or potentially dangerous persons” from their campuses in situations where the safety of an individual, group or member institution is threatened.
“The designated official who is assigned to review any potentially disruptive or dangerous situation may exercise emergency power, including issuing an immediate ban, to respond to a threat,” the policy reads. “These actions shall be reasonable and narrowly tailored to fit the event.”
During the Oct. 7 demonstration, many protestors concealed their identities with masks, sunglasses, keffiyehs and other head coverings. However, according to Pomona faculty, students have been identified through video surveillance and faculty recognition.
In the days since, over 70 students have been notified that they were among those identified in Carnegie Hall. For non-Pomona students, these notifications have been rolling out since Oct. 11 in the form of a letter from Starr.
“This is to notify you that effective immediately, as a result of your presence during the events inside Carnegie Hall on October 7, 2024, you are banned and designated persona non grata from Pomona College,” Starr wrote in the letter.
Banned students are prohibited from entering any property belonging to Pomona, including academic buildings, administrative buildings, support services, athletic facilities, performance or practice facilities, dining halls, residence halls and campus grounds for the remainder of the 2024-2025 academic year.
Those who are taking classes at Pomona can no longer attend them in person, and instead must make arrangements with faculty to continue their coursework “in other modalities.” Faculty have not received a comprehensive list of students banned from Pomona and are currently relying on students to inform them of any disciplinary action that they are facing.
Students have five business days after their receipt of Starr’s letter to request reconsideration of the ban by contacting Pomona Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Avis Hinkson. Those who don’t appeal, or whose appeals are denied, are not exempt from any criminal, civil or restraining action that Pomona chooses to take against them.
A Pitzer sophomore who was banned from Pomona’s campus after the Oct. 7 demonstration — and who requested anonymity for fear of further disciplinary or legal action — said that Pomona has not provided any evidence used to identify and punish non-5C students, despite requests from Pitzer administrators.
Pitzer students who have been issued bans are awaiting potential hearings and additional disciplinary action from their college. Upon Pomona filing an “incident report” against these students, the Pitzer Dean of Students office will have discretion over whether they want to pursue it further.
When asked for comment on their policies, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Office Sha Bradley responded in an email to TSL that “In any instance where a member of Scripps’ community is being evaluated for disciplinary action, the College follows the guidelines found in the Scripps Code of Conduct.”
Pomona is continuing to review the cases of students who were issued bans, and the college will issue more conduct notifications in the coming weeks, according to an Oct. 24 email from Starr.
“We come to teach, study and work at Pomona as members of a passionate intellectual community,” Starr wrote. “However, we cannot move forward, let alone aim to strengthen our community, when safety is at risk and actions lead us away from the foundational value of respect and threaten our ability to be together.”
Hinkson and Josh Eisenberg, Pomona’s associate dean of students and dean of campus life, did not respond for comment.
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