Scripps College has ramped up its security protocols at Denison Library, according to an Oct. 16 email to the Scripps community. Mary Hatcher-Skeers, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, sent the email just one day before a “study-in” event hosted by Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) was set to take place in the library. Due to the increased security, the study-in has been indefinitely postponed.
Visitors of the library are now required to swipe a Claremont College identification card and to allow the inspection of any bags before entry. According to Hatcher-Skeers, the only materials allowed into Denison are computers, electronic devices, books, paper, notebooks and writing utensils. No water bottles are allowed inside the building and those who wish to enter must leave them with a security officer outside.
The new protocols will be implemented until further notice, Hatcher-Skeers said.
According to an Oct. 8 Instagram post by SJP, the study-in was meant to shed light on Scripps’ “recent repression of student displays of support for Palestine” in the college’s Motley Coffeehouse. Several days earlier, Scripps administration had suspended the business after weeks of conflict over some students’ pro-Palestinian political organizing within the space and the coffeehouse’s hanging of a Palestian flag.
Various student organizations publicized the study-in event, according to Hatcher-Skeers’ Oct. 16 email. The increase in security at Denison, she explained, was a preemptive measure of protection in case of escalation.
“Scripps College’s Principles of Community encourage and embrace freedom of expression while also calling on our community to balance individual freedom with sensitivity to and awareness of the rights of others,” she wrote. “The escalation observed during recent campus protests violates these principles and has provoked fear and concerns about protestors assuming control of College spaces.”
In an Oct. 17 statement published on Instagram by several 5C student groups — including Claremont SJP, 5C Student and Worker Alliance, 5C Prison Abolition, Nobody Fails at Scripps and Pomona Divest from Apartheid — student staff at Denison Library responded to the security changes.
According to the statement, Campus Security began monitoring student access to the space on the morning of Oct. 16, searching backpacks, confiscating water bottles and prohibiting the use of the outdoor courtyard. In addition, they said that students were unable to access over half of the library, including the bathroom.
Student staff added that these protocols have had a detrimental effect on the functions of the library and that Denison’s 5C student and staff patron numbers have plummeted.
“In the wake of the Motley shut-down at the hands of administration on Oct. 5, this reaffirms ongoing campus-wide sentiments that student spaces at Scripps are under attack,” they wrote.
They went on to express their strong opposition to the increased surveillance at Denison, arguing that it contributes to an unsafe environment for employees and patrons — specifically undocumented and Black, Indigenous and people of color students — and severs the community’s trust in the library.
“This prevents us from working towards Denison’s intention of engaging with individuals in a positive educational space,” the statement reads. “As student library employees, we want to highlight the idea that libraries are meant to be accessible and welcoming to all.”
Student staff also echoed the demands made five days earlier by Motley workers, calling for the immediate rehiring of over 50 student workers affected by the coffeehouse’s closing. They then demanded that Scripps remove campus police and security officers from Denison and surrounding areas, give employees full access to the library and include full mobility for 7C students.
Following the security changes at Denison, also on Oct. 17, Claremont SJP released an Instagram post commenting on the situation.
“[I]n our privilege of being here, it is imperative that we do not let admin silence us,” they wrote. “Our community is strong, and we are grounded enough in our principled direction and purpose to know the significance of our fight for divestment here and fight against anti-Palestinian discrimination on these campuses.”
Yuhang Xie contributed reporting.
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