On July 21st, Pomona Divest from Apartheid (PDfA) announced on social media that 19 student protesters arrested during the April 5th occupation of Pomona College’s Alexander Hall had been charged with criminal trespassing by the Los Angeles County district attorney.
The 19 students were arrested inside Alexander Hall, with another student arrested outside for obstructing the path of police officers. As of July 23rd, no charges have been filed against the student arrested outside.
The students were arrested after administrators gave multiple warnings to vacate the building. Most students participating in the sit-in left voluntarily, while 19 remained inside. The protestors, who refused to identify themselves to administrators and Campus Safety, were booked at the Claremont Police Station and released later that night, welcomed by a crowd of over 100 students who had been protesting outside the station.
In a correspondence with the Independent, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office confirmed that “all defendants in the complaint have been charged with Trespass and Refusing to Leave Private Property, a misdemeanor violation.”
It is unclear whether Pomona’s consent was necessary for the DA to charge the students with criminal trespassing. If convicted, the students could face a maximum sentence of six months in a county jail, and/or a $1,000 fine. The DA’s office wrote that a decision on what sentence the prosecution would seek has not yet been made, but that sentencing would “be impacted by [the defendants'] alleged conduct during their trespass.”
In April, the seven Pomona students among the arrested protesters were issued interim suspensions, and their access to campus was revoked. The arrested students were reportedly housed by professors. Pomona’s Preliminary Sanctions Review Board decided to drop the interim suspensions for three of the seven students.
It appears the academic judicial process is still ongoing for most of the arrested students. Late in May, Pomona’s student-run Judicial Board released redacted versions of two of the arrested students’ hearings. Both students were sanctioned with academic probation for a semester and required meetings with administrators.
On April 11th, Pomona’s Faculty passed a resolution condemning the use of police on campus and demanding the College drop all criminal charges and academic sanctions for the students’ “actions of civil disobedience.”
In PDfA’s announcement, the group condemned Pomona for refusing to drop the charges, and wrote that the decision would “impact generations of community organizers and funnel more people into the systemically-racist carceral system.”
The spokesperson for the DA’s office was confident in their ability to convict the arrested students of the trespassing misdemeanor, but declined to provide further information while the case is pending. A spokesperson for Pomona College referred the Independent to the DA’s office.
As of July 23rd, the case records were unavailable due to a ransomware attack on the LA County courts website. This story will be updated as new information becomes available.
Great post by my favorite writer of the Claremont Independent!