Statement: On Pomona College’s disciplinary charges against Claremont Undercurrents

On Oct. 16, Pomona College brought disciplinary charges against Claremont Undercurrents for our reporting on a divestment action on Oct. 7, 2024.

These charges are an unprecedented act of retaliation against our reporting, and carry the threat of sanctions that could include club suspension or funding elimination. More importantly, they risk setting the precedent that student press cannot stay in the area of protests to cover them until their conclusion — putting any repressive actions completely out of sight of the community.

The charges are part of a wave of repression by Pomona College targeting both journalists and activists who speak about Palestine. On Oct. 23 and 25, Pomona unilaterally suspended 12 students alleged to have participated in the Oct. 7 protest, without presenting specific evidence against any of them. Pomona has also banned at least 36 non-Pomona students from its campus in connection to the protest. On Oct. 15, Pomona banned Pitzer Outback editor-in-chief Ben Lauren from campus for reporting on the Oct. 7 action, though his ban was eventually overturned.

In the two years since our founding, Claremont Undercurrents has been at the forefront of covering student organizing and the corresponding repression at the Claremont Colleges, from uncovering Pitzer’s illegal firing of workers who expressed union support in 2023 to consistent action coverage throughout the ongoing campaign for Pomona to divest from the genocide in Palestine.

On multiple occasions, Undercurrents reporters were the only documentarians on the ground at actions. On April 5, Undercurrents student reporters were the only journalists inside Alexander Hall as riot police arrested 19 students participating in a sit-in. Our photos and videos were crucial for fully documenting what happened that day, and for holding administrators accountable for their decision to call riot police.

Our campus journalism has also made national-level impacts. In August, the U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into anti-Palestinian discrimination at Pomona College, sparked by a Palestine Legal lawsuit that cited our reporting on Pomona College’s policy changes and disciplinary actions. National and international news publications, including The Intercept and Mondoweiss, have also picked up our stories.

Undercurrents has worked to build trust with the 7C community throughout our two years of operation. We have always held our reporting to high standards for accuracy, rigorously verifying all facts with on-the-ground reporting and evidence. Our reporters wear press vests clearly identifying our publication, and we have a long track record of documenting campus actions — and repression — without incident. And when necessary, we have held ourselves accountable to the community, as exemplified by our development and public statement of an anonymity policy in response to concerns about our coverage of an action on Dec. 8, 2023.

On Oct. 7, 2024, our reporters covered a divestment action at Pomona College. In the following days, we covered administration’s disciplinary repression against dozens of students alleged to have been involved.

On Oct. 11, Pomona College delivered an “official communication” summoning Undercurrents’ registered officers to a meeting about possible charges. On Oct. 16, Undercurrents’ registered officers met with administrators, who shared two charges against us related to our coverage on Oct. 7, 2024. On Oct. 18, Pomona College sent us a Statement of Alleged Policy Violation, formally stating our charges. Our Judicial Council hearing is scheduled for next week.

As a registered 5C club, our editors have established communication channels with Pomona administration. If Pomona wanted to discuss Undercurrents’ reporting practices in good faith, they would have reached out to us for a direct conversation. Instead, they escalated directly to a disciplinary case, displaying punitive rather than restorative intent.

We understand that, like the sanctions brought against student participants in a public walkout without due process, Pomona College’s disciplinary charges against Claremont Undercurrents are not just the repression of student press and free speech, but a specific case of the well-documented Palestine exception, where institutions render speech in solidarity with Palestine illegitimate and an exception to free speech, so that simply speaking about Palestine exposes speakers to harsh retaliation.

We will not be intimidated. As we go through the disciplinary procedure, we will defend the necessity and value of our work.

At a time when the Claremont Colleges are suspending our peers without due process and shutting down student workplaces in retaliation for their principled expressions of solidarity with Palestine, and as our institutions remain invested in and profiting from the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine, our reporting of campus repression and organized resistance from students is crucial.

We ask you to continue standing in solidarity with Undercurrents’ mission of documenting and amplifying anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist organizing at the Claremont Colleges.

In solidarity,

Claremont Undercurrents