Dear Pomona College community,
As we head into fall break, I write with the hope that you will take care of yourselves and one another, because we need one another, and we need care, as the violation of our collective life on campus on October 7, 2024, has shown.
The takeover of Carnegie Hall and the events that ensued should be unfathomable in a close-knit, ethical, and caring learning community such as ours. Our academic mission was directly targeted. Faculty, students, staff, and high-school student visitors were subjected to intimidation and fear. This is unacceptable.
I am grateful to the members of our community who, in the midst of crisis, have stood up for who we are at our best. My deepest appreciation to the campus safety staff who stayed with other members of our community throughout the day; to the student affairs staff who worked to de-escalate the situation and to bring help; to the faculty, staff and students who helped others evacuate the building; to the faculty from around campus and the leadership of CGU, who answered the call to provide classroom and office space for displaced faculty; to the members of ASPC who held a letter-writing campaign offering support to Carnegie faculty and staff; to the facilities and ITS staff who have labored to restore the building; and to the staff, faculty, and students who have worked to find a path that is true to who we are: Thank you.
Thank you to all of you who have, through your actions and your care, continued to elevate what is best in us, and to show what our community stands for: compassion, care, and a belief in the power of education to unleash human potential.
I grieve, alongside so many of you, that the destruction in Carnegie Hall was extensive and the harm to individuals and our mission was so great. I want you all to know that, based on our extensive but still growing inquiry, the vast majority of those who occupied Carnegie are not Pomona students. Starting this week, disciplinary letters are going out to students from Pomona and the other Claremont Colleges who have been identified as taking part in the takeover of Carnegie Hall. Student groups affiliated with this incident are also under investigation. Individuals who are not students will be banned from our campus. Additional evidence is still under review. It is important that everyone understand that Pomona is committed to the integrity of our disciplinary processes, and we will be unable to comment on individual cases. I anticipate that, within the scope of the student code, and commensurate with individual circumstances, sanctions will range widely, including campus bans, suspension and expulsion—a step we do not take lightly. As always, we have due process on our campus, with opportunities for appeal.
Every Sagehen, as the executive committee of our faculty so eloquently wrote, has a role to play in rebuilding our sense of collective responsibility, and in finding a path forward that restores our community.
Pomona College isn’t just any kind of community, though. It is in our love for creativity, in our thirst for discovery, in our commitment to intellectual depth and rigor, and in the fruits of our labor, that Pomona makes our greatest mark in the world, and it is on this that we stake our greatest hopes.
This is why we are here, and not any of the other places any of us could be.
As we head into the final months of the semester and the year, let us embrace this commitment together. Let us not lose sight of what unites and makes us strong. We are given great gifts, gifts that we must bear in trust for this generation and every generation to come. I am proud to be part of this community, and I look forward to being with you, engaging alongside you, and setting our feet together on a path that, even at our most profound moments of disagreement, leads to higher ground.
With fervent hopes for peace in this world, and with love for you and what we do, I remain,
G. Gabrielle Starr