(Maggie Zhang • The Student Life)
Around 30 students picketed the entrances to Pomona College’s Frary dining hall at 11 a.m. the morning of Friday, April 10 — chanting, holding cardboard signs and drumming on buckets. The demonstration, organized by the Claremont Student Workers Alliance (CSWA), encouraged 5C students to boycott the dining hall and advocate for the reinstatement of recently fired cook Rolando “Rolo” Araiza.
“You know, we’ve been fighting for Rolo for over two months now and we really do want to stay in solidarity with the workers.” CSWA steering member Kobe Leonor PO ‘27 said. “The school has not responded in a way that we’ve seen appropriate.”
Pomona terminated Araiza — a prominent union leader within UNITE HERE local 11 — on Jan. 29, months before the new union contract negotiations were set to begin in June. Since then, CSWA has held rallies, created petitions and organized today’s boycott to draw attention to Araiza’s firing, which CSWA argues is an unjust action to weaken the union before contract negotiations. Pomona said Araiza was fired over workplace conduct policy violations, though administrators have not publicly disclosed specific details, citing employee privacy. In February, Araiza filed a formal grievance for wrongful termination, which the College denied.
Asking students to spend meal-plan money at the other colleges, CSWA members said today’s boycott directly pressured Pomona to rehire Rolo.
“We’ve made it clear through petitions and rallies and other actions across Pomona that we understand Rolo’s firing to be a case of union busting and we demand that he be brought back immediately,” Elias Pluecker PO ‘28, CSWA steering member, said. ”However, just showing up and doing petitions and rallies doesn’t actually put real pressure on the school, and what today does is [put] economic pressure on the institution by costing [the College] money.”
According to Kai Chen PO ’26, the colleges track when students from other 5Cs swipe into their dining halls and require those students’ home institutions to reimburse them accordingly. Chen, a CWSA steering member, said that the boycott therefore diminished the funds Pomona received from the other 5Cs and signaled support for Araiza to the administration.
“There’s a large group of people who want Rolo back and see his firing as an injustice,” Chen said. “And that dip in the numbers in this one meal is a little taste of what student power is capable of.”
Students said that directing funds away from Pomona was a way to work within the dining system to promote change.
“I think it’s really important that we as students use the tools that we have to ask our administrations to change their ways,” picketter Ukiah Halloran-Steiner PZ ‘27 said. “One of those ways is the power of spending money at other schools and diverting money from Pomona College. ”
The picketers’ noise drew attention from the surrounding Walker Beach, while many students entering the dining hall spoke with demonstrators.
“We’re not here to get in the way of anybody. We’re not here to harass anybody” Chen said. “But we’ve also had a lot of really good conversations in which when people learn what’s going on, they do want to go somewhere else.”
The boycott also gave those who may not be typically involved in student organizing a chance to support Araiza.
“I think people know what’s going on with Rolo and they want to be involved in at least a little way,” Isaiah Curtis PZ ’26, a CWSA member, said. “This is a good opportunity to do that.”
With a bucket and spoon in hand, Una Marie Lake SC ’29, although not regularly involved in CSWA, drummed loudly in solidarity with both Ariaza and other students, which she said helps draw more attention.
“I think you can do a lot of talking, but I think when you really start singing and yelling is when you can really get your message across in different ways,” Lake said.
CSWA aims to put collective pressure on the College until their demands for Araiza’s reinstatement are met.
“We demand that Rolo be brought back to work immediately, and I want the school to see and acknowledge what’s happening today,” Pluecker said.
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