Pro-Hamas scholar Mohamed Abdou addressed Claremont Colleges students virtually on Wednesday, Oct. 7, as part of his “Death to the Akademy Tour.” The talk was hosted by the People’s Fund, an organization also operated by Claremont Colleges students, which met at an unknown location to project the event live.

Three years ago, more than a thousand civilians were murdered on October 7th. Two years ago, protesters stormed Pomona’s Carnegie Hall and spraypainted “intifada” across its walls. One year ago, students from the Claremont Colleges disrupted a memorial for the lives lost in the attacks, shouting “Zionists not welcome here.”

On October 7, the People’s Fund—an organization funded and operated by Claremont Colleges students—plans to host Mohamed Abdou, a self-described “Muslim anarchist” and Hamas proponent as part of his “Death to the Akademy” tour.

Pomona College was back in the national spotlight this summer after reporting in the New York Post and Daily Mail surfaced a lawsuit filed against the College by a former employee, Melody DiDonato, in 2025. The suit alleges that Pomona discriminated against her on the basis of her disability and Jewish faith and subjected her to a hostile work environment. An amended complaint was filed in May 2026.

Two foundational principles of American law are colliding on college campuses across the country, and the Claremont Consortium is no exception.

Protests held Oct. 7, 2024 at Pomona College. Pomona College resolved a Title VI complaint with the Brandeis Center, Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International on Wednesday, agreeing to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism, appoint a Title VI coordinator, and update speech and demonstration policies, among other provisions. “We are pleased to have resolved these important discussions through a thoughtful and comprehe

"The original plan was that it would be me by myself for at least a year, maybe two years... after October 7, everything changed," said Slater.

Last week, an Oct. 7 memorial hosted at Pomona College by Claremont Hillel featuring Yoni Viloga, a survivor of the attacks, was disrupted by protestors. Afterwards, an anonymous statement defending the disruption was sent to multiple campus newspapers, referring to Viloga as “Satan” and “the spawn of a genocidal lineage,” and to Zionism as a “death cult that must be dealt with accordingly.”

Masked protestors disrupted an event held Wednesday evening in commemoration of the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, shouting at attendees that they were “all complicit in genocide.” The memorial event, hosted at Pomona College by Claremont Hillel and the Claremont Colleges’ Jewish Chaplain, featured a talk by Oct. 7 survivor Yoni Viloga.

On Tuesday, Oct. 7, students and faculty across the Claremont Colleges participated in pro-Palestine events, including vigils and speaker events, to mark two years of conflict between Israel and Hamas. A point of contention is the decision to host these events on Oct. 7, the day when Israel experienced Hamas’s ambush and had not yet begun its offensive into Gaza.

Pitzer Free Wall on March 6. The Free Wall’s History and Recent Controversy Pitzer College’s Free Wall has recently become the canvas...

Photos via the Claremont Colleges. The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) published a statement on April 22...

Six months on, an extensive investigation uncovers new details about the student occupation of Pomona College’s Carnegie Hall on Oct. 7,...

Image via OpenVerse. Copyright Dave and Margie Hill . In an email Monday evening, Pomona College Acting President Bob Gaines responded...

Representative Tim Walberg. Image via walberg.house.gov . On March 27, Pomona College was among five institutions to be sent a letter...

Margaret Fowler Garden at Scripps College. Image via Openverse . On March 18th, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil...

Image via Flickr. Copyright Dave and Margie Hill . On March 10, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent...

Image via Wikimedia Commons. On March 6, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law announced that they had filed a federal...

Image via Flickr. Copyright Vicki Walker . On February 14, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a “Dear...

Image Credit: Baxter Brew On Friday, January 24, CMC faculty voted to recommend that the Board of Trustees reinstate the school’s...