Students delegate for Pitzer administration for the fourth time to rehire Adan Campos 

On Nov. 4, Adan Campos and over students delegated to Andrés Fernández — Pitzer College’s Vice President for Student Affairs & Dean of Students — to demand Campos’ rehiring. This delegation is the fourth that students, led by the Claremont Student Worker Alliance (CSWA), have made to Pitzer administrators since September 27., and comes the week after the Pitzer Student Senate unanimously passed a resolution to rehire Campos on Oct. 27. 

More than 70 Pitzer staff members and 1200 students across the Claremont Colleges have signed a petition demanding that Pitzer rehire Adan. The Nov. 4 delegation marks 10 months since Pitzer fired Campos — a DACAmented worker, and dining hall cook for nearly a decade — while his documentation was being renewed. 

Before delegating to Fernández outside the Broad Center at 2:45 p.m., Campos and the students rallied and gave speeches at the Pitzer Mounds. Students described Pitzer’s refusal to rehire Campos despite months of community support and several delegations to administration.

“Every time we come here, [Pitzer administrators] just hear us don’t do anything about it,” Campos said to the students gathered. “It’s been almost six months since I got terminated, and I still don’t have my position back.”

Student speakers also disputed claims that Pitzer has made about why Campos hasn’t been rehired, including that the College is unable to hire “new workers” because they are not understaffed, and that understaffing is “subjective.”

Laura Schaefer, Pitzer’s Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer, had made that claim during a meeting with members of CSWA and the Pitzer Student Senate, a CSWA member told Undercurrents.

Students challenged Pitzer administration’s calls for “dialogue” or “conversation,” noting that this delegation comes after months of administrators’ refusal to rehire Campos.

“An accusation that we often receive as organizers or as concerned community members is that we refuse to engage in ‘good faith dialogue’ or respectful conversation with people in power,” a student, who preferred to be anonymous for safety reasons, said. 

“What would be respectful is if they didn’t fire a documented worker because his papers were being renewed. That’s what would be respectful. We can’t let this pass,” the student said.

“Administration continues to show their disrespect,” another student said later during the delegation. “They talk about dialogue and conversation, but Adan has been compliant and working with them since the summer. They’re continuing to use anti-labor tactics.”