by Tania Azhang

Pomona College students Daniel Velazquez and Francisco Villaseñor, who were suspended for the academic year for their participation in an October 7 demonstration in Carnegie Hall, held a November 15 press conference in El Barrio Park.

Some 50 students attended the event. Speakers included members of Pomona’s dining hall faculty and shop steward Maria Ocampo, Chicana/o-Latina/o studies professor Rita Cano Alcalá, Associated Students of Pomona College Board of Trustees Representative for Student Affairs Oliver Rizvi, and Pitzer student Fia Powers, who was among those banned from the Pomona campus as a result of her participation in the October 7 protest during which more than 100 students occupied Carnegie Hall, demanding Pomona divest from weapons manufacturers supplying arms to the Israeli government.

In response, Pomona President Gabrielle Starr suspended 12 Pomona students for the academic year (two of which successfully appealed their suspensions) and banned other non-Pomona students from campus. The press conference was held with the support of organizations Palestine Legal and ACLU SoCal, among others. On November 13, Pomona received a joint letter from the ACLU and others, asserting the suspensions may have violated students’ rights, and that a lawsuit may be filed to challenge the decision.

Velazquez opened the conference by explaining the intent of the October 7 demonstration, and how the subsequent suspensions have affected students.

“I think it’s important to acknowledge that throughout this entire process, suspended students were unilaterally not just suspended but evicted from their homes, deprived of food, deprived of any support from the college, subsequently deprived of any clarity on how this process would be carried out, on why the process was carried out in ways which are unprecedented, not just in the context of Pomona College’s history, but in the context of private university history within the United States of America,” Velazquez said.

Velazquez said the suspensions represent a crackdown on free speech.

“Instead of doing that divestment, the college instead has enacted violent processes of what they claim are fair procedures, but what I would call as crackdowns on first amendment rights, on the right to peacefully assemble, on the right to free speech, and on our rights as students to speak out and demand what we believe is best for the community that we comprise,” he said.

Alcalá spoke after Velazquez, citing the Chicana/o-Latina/o studies support for the suspended students.

“Our students should not have to give up their constitutional rights when they step on our campuses,” Alcalá said. “They should have the same rights on our campuses that they have standing on the street corner over there. [Students] have been the moral conscience of countries as long as universities have existed. And it is necessary that their voice be allowed and that their voice be heard and that their voice be heeded, because there is a genocide going on right now, and we should all stop turning a blind eye to that genocide, as these students are asking us to look and to demand that it be stopped immediately.”

Ocampo recalled Villaseñor’s advocacy for Pomona’s dining hall workers union.

He “has organized, rallied and fought to promote social justice at Pomona College. He has organized, alongside us and alongside his peers, to create positive change and support our fight to be treated with dignity and respect,” Ocampo said. “Francisco was instrumental in organizing for Pitzer, dining, housekeeping, maintenance and grounds keeping. His efforts were seen and felt by all, and through his efforts, Pitzer won the right to be a union.”

Powers gave testimony about her participation in the October 7 action, and how her suspension has impacted her.

“This is very personal to me, as two days before, my family in Lebanon had to evacuate from their homes because Israel bombed the city of Beirut,” Powers said. “With this ban Pomona has impeded my education and intellectual development as I can no longer attend, I’m now scrambling to make sure I will be able to graduate this May.”

Rizvi condemned Starr’s handling of the situation.

 “There is a lack of evidence and clarity, and punishments are being doled out with no information on this investigation,” he said. “Being in the building should not automatically lead to suspension. What’s worse is that the student handbook is now being weaponized to enforce harsh one size fits all punishments. These punishments are disproportionately affecting first generation, low-income and [Black, Indigenous and people of color] students.”

Velazquez read a statement from Palestine Legal:

“Pomona is utilizing collective punishment, disciplining students severely regardless of their individual conduct as a way to chill student speech on campus and deter student advocacy for Palestinian human rights,” read the statement. “The suspension letters make clear that the college is holding anyone who attends a protest responsible for any unlawful or disruptive actions that may occur within the vicinity of the protest, regardless of whether the person participated in or even knew of those actions. In effect, this punishes the act of protest itself.”

Villaseñor also condemned Starr’s actions.

“Let’s be clear, this is not about restoring the community,” he said. “This is about President Starr and the board of trustees utilizing their actions as a way to intimidate and scare students. In the last month, I have been in five different houses … I’ve gone to sleep some nights not knowing where I’m gonna be the next day with no evidence, no fair process. To be clear, our demands are simple, immediate reinstatement with assurance of financial aid, immediate reinstatement and removal of bans for students across the five [Claremont Colleges], and finally, divestment from the Israeli war machine.”

Tania Azhang is a Pitzer College senior majoring in American studies and media and is the managing editor of arts & culture and opinions at the Claremont Colleges newspaper The Student Life.