The Claremont Student Worker Alliance (CSWA) held a rally on Oct. 9 outside of Frary Dining Hall, where around 20 students and faculty members gathered to hear speeches, sing picket chants and paint Walker Wall with messages of support for dining workers at Pomona College.
Tag: CSWA
Pomona Dining Services meal plan changes raise concern over shared governance
The changes were informed by Dining Services’ ongoing consultation with Webb Foodservice Design Group, a consulting group that Pomona hired in January 2026 to implement wider changes within Dining Services across the next two years. In a resolution passed on Sept. 24, the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) condemned Dining Services’ lack of discussion with students amidst recent decisions, and called for Pomona to renew their commitment to shared governance.
Milk & Honey delegates to Pomona admin with Local 11 and dining workers, demands fair labor practices and reopening plan
Milk & Honey student workers and Pomona College dining workers gathered as a delegation on Monday, Sept. 21, to demand fair labor practices for both Milk & Honey and full-time union workers from Pomona administrators.
OPINION: Where have all the political organizers gone?
Lina McRoberts PO ’27 examines the afterlife and political inheritance of campus organizing in an attempt to tackle this question. Student organizing isn’t gone, she argues, but has only assumed an altered form.
Students picket and boycott Frary Dining Hall to protest termination of cook Rolando Araiza
Around 30 students picketed the entrances to Pomona College’s Frary dining hall at 11 a.m. on 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.
Picketers said the boycott directly pressured Pomona to rehire Rolo, asking students to spend meal-plan money at the other colleges. They added that making noise in the picket line drew attention to their cause, something other forms of demonstrations may not accomplish.
“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,” Una Marie Lake SC ’29 said.
Pomona College to drop Starbucks pending faculty approval
Pomona College may drop Starbucks as a provider for Cafe 47 following a Feb. 25 meeting between members of Associated Students of Pomona College’s (ASPC) Food Committee and Assistant Vice President of Facilities & Campus Services Bob Robinson, according to multiple sources.
5C community continues efforts to reinstate Rolando Araiza after denied grievance
After Pomona College denied a claim for wrongful termination of dining hall worker and union leader Rolando “Rolo” Arazia, around 30 people gathered outside of Pomona College’s Frary Dining Hall on Monday, Feb. 23, to rally for his reinstatement.
Pomona ASPC and CSWA continue efforts to reinstate dining hall worker Rolando Araiza
ASPC unanimously voted to pass a CSWA-backed resolution that demands the rehiring of Frary dining hall cook and union leader Rolando Araiza on Thursday. The decision solidifies ASPC’s support in presenting the resolution to the Pomona College administration.
Since Araiza’s termination Jan. 29, CSWA has collaborated with students and dining hall staff to collect over 900 signatures from the 5C community in support of Araiza’s reinstatement.
“The support from the students was really powerful and heartwarming and meant a lot to the workers,” CSWA member and author of the resolution Elias Pleucker PO ’28 said.
Moving forward, ASPC President Grace Zheng PO ’26 said it will be up to the two sponsors, Murphy-Pearson and Vice President of Student Affairs Ireland Griffin PO ’26, to spearhead the next steps in fulfilling the resolution’s demands.
Union leader and Frary cook Rolando Araiza terminated; Pomona faces backlash
Pomona College is under fire for terminating Frary Dining Hall cook and union leader Rolando Araiza last Thursday after 21 years of employment, months before a new union contract is due in June. Students and workers are campaigning for Arazia to be reinstated under claims that Pomona’s decision was influenced by his involvement with workers unions.
5C student organizations host first Leftist Coffee Hour
Student organizations from across the 5Cs gathered at the Motley Coffeehouse on Friday, Nov. 7 for the first 5C “Leftist Coffee Hour.”