Amid the hustle and bustle of college life, students can lose sight of the reason they’re in college in the first place.
On March 21, the panel “What is College For” delved into the systemic inequities embedded in the Claremont Colleges’ status as elite small liberal arts institutions, as well as the broader purpose of higher education. The panel, which took place in Pomona College’s Edmunds Ballroom, featured Pomona’s Susan McWilliams Barndt, professor of politics, Guillermo Douglass-Jaimes, assistant professor of environmental analysis and Stef Torralba, visiting assistant professor of English.
Organizer Maggie Zhang PO ’26 moderated the panel, which was followed by a Q&A.
“Why is there so much talk of inclusivity at this institution if we all chose it precisely because of how exceptionally exclusive it is?” Zhang said. “In elite spaces, and certainly at Pomona College, there is an unspoken and unspeakable mess of norms, social and academic, private and public, that we are all victims and perpetrators of … It’s never just as simple as getting a degree and getting out.”
Barndt emphasized the inherent contradictions in the purpose of college as a place which promotes self-discovery and is radical in its conception despite operating within an elitist system that subsidizes the wealthy.
‘’[College is] largely a mechanism of finishing and credentialing for the cosmopolitan professional class,” Barndt said. “We take seriously in our organization a very ancient idea that education of people is something that is done best on a small scale, relationally and face to face, and in an increasingly technological, bureaucratic, impersonal world of ever increasing scale, that is actually a very radical proposition. It’s very countercultural.”
Torralba observed that many subjects in higher education are steeped in a history of cultural hegemony and imperialism. Torralba emphasized that curriculum choices can frequently signal eliteness.
“The English curriculum privileges very specific literary texts that are seen as really difficult to really rigorous as a way of signifying that Western literature is a part of a uniquely rich, intellectual … tradition,” Torralba said. “The liberal humanist subject is … also the same intellectual tradition that produced modes of racial and colonial difference that we’re still grappling with today.”
Douglass-Jaimes pointed out the manifold layers of elitism at the Claremont Colleges, from financial challenges to inequities that mirror broader disparities in access to resources within the elite sphere.
“[Someone] who can afford to be here was able to access resources that can prepare you to get here,” Douglass-Jaimes said. “I grew up in Riverside. And I did not know that this college existed until I applied to work here. [It] specifically was not in my universe.”
Attendee Estrella Salas-Mendoza PO ’27 appreciated the candor of the panelists.
“I liked how open and honest the professors were with their answers,” Salas-Mendoza said. “I really liked the questions that people were asking. They’re really thinking about how diversity is seen in the college and how there’s not that real diversity here.”
A significant topic of discussion was the difference in how adjunct and visiting faculty are treated, including the substantial pay gap. According to Barndt, the highest-paid professors at Pomona have a salary of $200,000 a year, whereas visiting professors are paid $7,000 per class. In addition, visiting professors teach two more classes a year than their tenured counterparts.
Barndt also raised concerns about the increase in visiting and contingent faculty at Pomona.
“Forty percent of our classes … are taught by people who don’t have basic tenure protections and will not get tenure here,” Barndt said. “We can afford to do better.”
Barndt was explicit about her expectations for tenured professors.
“A tenured professor [has] more time to do research to make professional connections … to keep up with the scholarship in my discipline,” Barndt said.
The panelists emphasized the value of creating spaces where students can be open and honest in a way that helps the 5C community take steps toward true accountability. They asked the audience to reflect on their relative privilege as part of a prestigious institution.
“Rather than trying to pretend that this institution is something other than what it is, I love us to have [these] conversations,” Barndt said. “Like, if we’re in positions of power … what can you do with that in a way that allows you to sleep at night?”