As students vacate one pro-Palestine encampment at Pitzer College, another has emerged at the Claremont Colleges consortium, this one taking over the commencement stage and lawn at Pomona College.
Student protesters decided to dissolve their encampment at Pitzer Sunday morning, two days after Pitzer leadership agreed to share information about the institution’s investments. Students have demanded the college stop doing business with Israel or companies that support its offensive in Gaza.
“Pitzer admin’s commitment to disclosing the percentage of the endowment in weapons manufacturing is not nearly enough,” encampment organizers said in a post on Instagram, adding the move to dissolve the protest was neither a statement of victory or defeat.
By Monday morning, pro-Palestinian students at Pomona College were setting up their own encampment to continue their call for divestment in Israel.
Pro-Palestinian supporters of the Pomona Divest From Apartheid group sit on the Pomona College graduation stage with their tents in the encampment they created early Monday morning, May 6, 2024, in the planned graduation area of the Marston Quad at Pomona College in Claremont. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
A pro-Palestinian supporter of the Pomona Divest From Apartheid group prepares to set up her camp near the Pomona College graduation stage within the encampment they created early Monday morning, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pro-Palestinian supporters of the Pomona Divest From Apartheid group sit on the Pomona College graduation stage early Monday morning, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pro-Palestinian supporters of the Pomona Divest From Apartheid group sit on the Pomona College graduation stage with their tents in the encampment they created early Monday morning, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pro-Palestinian supporters of the Pomona Divest From Apartheid group sit in the encampment they created early Monday morning, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pro-Palestinian supporters, of the Pomona Divest From Apartheid group, some of which hide their faces from being photographed while another peers up from their computer, sit in the encampment they created early Monday morning, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pro-Palestinian supporters of the Pomona Divest From Apartheid gather at the entrance of the encampment they created early Monday morning, May 6, 2024, in the planned graduation area of the Marston Quad at Pomona College in Claremont. Graduation is scheduled for the site this coming Sunday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
A pro-Palestinian supporter of the Pomona Divest From Apartheid group prepares to set up her camp near the Pomona College graduation stage within the encampment they created early Monday morning, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pro-Palestinian supporters of the Pomona Divest From Apartheid group sit on the Pomona College graduation stage with their tents in the encampment they created early Monday morning, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
of
Expand
On Thursday, a majority of Pomona College faculty voted in support of students’ demands that the institution “divest from corporations complicit with war crimes and other human rights violations committed by the Israeli government in Israel/Palestine,” according to a news release from Pomona Divest from Apartheid.
Beginning at 5 a.m. Monday, Pomona College students had begun constructing an encampment in the commencement space in Marston Quad. Commencement events begin Friday, May 10.
This is the second Pomona student encampment. In early April, an encampment occupying the same space was dismantled by officials and led to the arrest of 20 students after they took over an administration building.
Diana Truong, a senior at Pomona College, was at the second encampment Monday because she said she believes in ending the violence in Gaza. She was also one of the students arrested in April.
“As a Vietnamese person, knowing there are very clear parallels to the Vietnam war it makes a lot of sense for me to support divestment and the legacy of student activism,” Truong said.
Truong said they have had no direct communication from administration at the encampment.
Pomona College made no further comment about the new encampment beyond an earlier official statement: “Our students, faculty, staff and alumni hold a range of viewpoints. Throughout the year, college leaders have offered to meet with student protesters and will continue to do so. We will promote safety for all members of our community and pursue our educational mission, considering the full range of viewpoints.”
The action comes just days after a pro-Palestinian encampment at USC’s main campus was cleared Sunday morning by officers with the Los Angeles Police Department and USC’s Department of Public Safety, ending a high-profile protest that began in April.
Campuses across Southern California and the country have seen protests and rallies. They’re part of a nationwide student movement in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
On Friday, May 3, UC Riverside administration and pro-Palestinian protesters on campus reached an agreement there, leading to the encampment being dissolved.
Unrest at UCLA took place over days, including a violent clash where pro-Israeli counter-protesters heckled and then attacked a growing pro-Palestinian encampment. The following night an unlawful assembly was declared and police in riot gear cleared the encampment and arrested hundreds.
As one of the students arrested April 5, Truong said there is concern over what comes next.
There is a “fear of ‘is our college going to call militarized riot police on us again?’” Truong said. “Obviously, we don’t want that to happen again, but most importantly we want to call for an end to the violence in Palestine.”
Early Monday, there were no reports of counter-protests or a planned removal of the Pomona encampment.
