Pomona Faculty Condemn Use of Police and Punishment of Protesters

This article was published in conjunction with The Forum.

On April 11, more than two-thirds of voting Pomona College faculty supported a motion to condemn and reverse the college’s response to the April 5 student protests. The motion is non-binding.

Earlier in the week on Monday, Pomona professors called an emergency faculty meeting to discuss the 20 student arrests the previous Friday. At the meeting, which was open to all faculty, President Starr explained that she had been in contact with Claremont Police in the week before the protestors’ occupation of Alexander Hall. Professors considered a motion but ultimately did not vote on it.

On Thursday, around 140 faculty reconvened to discuss the administrative response. During the meeting, 68 percent of the faculty members approved the following resolution:

"The faculty condemns the present and future militarization and use of police on the campus. It insists that the College immediately drop criminal charges and reverse the suspensions and all related consequences against student protesters for their actions of civil disobedience."

Faculty passed the resolution as hundreds of students marched across the Claremont Colleges.