The results of Pomona’s latest campus climate survey came out last week. Those of us concerned by the abysmal state of political pluralism at Pomona awaited the findings with trepidation—the previous survey, conducted in 2020, found that only 2% of Pomona students were conservative, the number of conservative faculty was too small to represent on a bar graph, and that “Antagonism Against Conservative Viewpoints” was a thematic problem.

A year after Charlie Kirk was murdered in front of thousands of onlookers at a debate event at Utah Valley University, the assassination continues to divide the Claremont Colleges. The anniversary of the murder prompted celebrations on campus and online, which drew national attention on X. Students the Independent interviewed expressed concern that the normalization of political violence chilled free expression on campus.

The liberal arts in America have moved away from their traditional mission of providing students a space for inquiry while educating them about the intellectual foundations of their civilization.

Approximately two dozen students gathered last week at Claremont McKenna College in memoriam of Charlie Kirk, founder of the MAGA-aligned organization Turning Point USA and leading conservative figure for college students across America. Vigil attendees were met with intermittent heckling, small-scale disruption, and digital harassment.