Dep't of Ed Launches Investigation into Anti-Palestinian Racism at Pomona College
/The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has launched an investigation into discrimination against Palestinian, Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA), and Muslim students at Pomona College.
In April 2024, Palestine Legal helped students file a complaint detailing the college president’s anti-Palestinian bias, the college’s threats to unmask protestors at the behest of an Israel advocacy group, its failure to take action against a Hillel affiliate who pressured students to dox student activists, and its violent crackdown on student protestors. The complaint was filed three days after the college called in 25 police cars from local cities containing over 30 police in riot gear to arrest 19 students engaged in a non-violent protest on campus. Though the college refused to push for criminal charges against its students to be dropped, prosecutors have agreed to drop the charges if students avoid criminal charges for six months and complete 16 hours of community service.
The investigation, which was opened on August 6, will focus on “(1)) whether the College responded in a manner consistent with the requirements of Title VI to alleged harassment of students by other students and third parties based on actual or perceived national origin (including Palestinian, SWANA, or Muslim shared ancestry); and (2) whether the College violated Title VI by engaging in disparate treatment of students based on their actual or perceived national origin (including Palestinian, SWANA, or Muslim shared ancestry).”
“For an institution that claims to be strongly rooted in its community yet global in its orientation, Pomona College’s treatment of students who are trying to end a genocide is appalling,” said Palestine Legal senior staff Zoha Khalili. “The college is betraying its own students while profiting off death and destruction.”
Students organizing with Pomona Divest from Apartheid are continuing to demand that the college end its complicity in the ongoing university-funded genocide. Students are also fundraising for mutual aid to support people building power in Sudan, Gaza, and Eastern Congo.