Pomona College Black Student Union demands more power after allegations of 3 'racist' incidents

Pomona College does not have a racism problem, but you'd never know it from the knots the school is tying itself into over a few "incidents" that have been drummed up into a massive kerfuffle. There has been a great deal of noise made about these incidents, and together they have been said to be part of a pattern of racism.

That "pattern" has caused the Black Student Union to demand more institutional power—even though college president Gabrielle Star, the dean of students, the athletics director, and the deans of both admissions and financial aid are all black. 

That allegation of racism at Pomona was picked up by my local outlets, including the LA Times, and repeated as though it is now just fact that this nearly $100,000 per year college is white supremacist. "A series of anti-[b]lack incidents has unsettled the campus, raising questions about race and belonging," the LA Times writes. 

One incident, said the Dean's office, "involved the use of the 'N-word' by a student in a residential setting, which was overheard and reported by a [b]lack student." That means that students, whose race is not mentioned, said the "n-word" and were overheard. It is the student who overheard the term that was victimized.

"It was a hurtful experience for the student who overheard the slur," said the Dean. That student then spoke at a Bias Response Team meeting and revealed "similar experiences they had heard about from other students"—these are not things they had experienced personally, but things they "heard about" from others.

The student who was overheard saying the offensive term offered an apology, but, the Dean said, "the impact of the language and broader context discussed suggests that these issues extend beyond this single, residential incident." That student later apologized during some kind of mediation.

The Dean goes on to talk about the second incident, a party that was held by the Black Student Union, where "a staff member attempted to engage students about potential policy violations." This apparently was a party that got out of hand, but when students were told to tamp it down, "several students," the Dean said, felt "targeted and racialized." The BSU was prevented from hosting parties—for two days—before the suspension on parties was lifted.

The final incident was that Chair of Sociology Hung Cam Thai showed a documentary where the "n-word" was spoken, and subsequently repeated that word during the classroom discussion." The Dean walked a fine line, saying both "There will be times in our classrooms when engaging with difficult language is unavoidable," and "students reported feeling particularly distressed by the repeated use of the slur—underscoring the imperative for thoughtful judgment in such situations."

After the email was sent to the school, the Black Student Union put out a response video and announced that they'd be holding a town hall. Here's what they said happened: a sociology professor said the "n-word" after showing a documentary where the word was said, there was a crackdown on rowdy Black Student Union parties, and an athletic team hosting a "YN" party, a trend visible across social media primarily by black accounts. The abbreviation stands for "young n-word."

"Black students at Pomona do not feel protected by administration," says the first student in the video from the Black Student Union. A series of students then walks through their grievances: the aforementioned sociology prof, the crackdown on BSU parties, and "modern-day blackface parties," namely the "YN" party. That is a total of three instances. These "YN" parties seem to be something of a trend if Instagram is to be believed, and they're more about 2000s hip hop culture than anything else.

The students in the video go on to say, "We want stronger accountability from admins, specifically for students who perpetuate racial discrimination here on this campus." An alleged "history of blackface" on campus is referenced. A student says their "safe spaces have been trashed." It turns out that some students who used the room literally left their trash behind, and this was interpreted as a "targeted incident." The students who left their trash later apologized

"All of this," say the students, "came up in the middle of ongoing discrimination going across Pomona's campus." No additional information about those instances was given. Another student references "cases of overt racism," which may or may not be referring to the three instances, and says that the support from the administration was not adequate. 

In the email, the Dean had said "for students seeking in-person connections, we recommend you reach out" to the on-campus therapy, spiritual, or religious centers. Students were told that there was 24-hour support available, that class deans were available, and that students could submit a report to the Bias Response Team.

"To a lot of us, this is a direct slap in the face," said another student. Students claim there are "inconsistencies in how punishments are given out to different marginalized groups." Another claims, "the longer you're on this campus, Pomona College does not care or protect their black students." 

In response to these instances, the Black Student Union announced a town hall for March 25 where they planned to "address everything in full detail." At that town hall, attended by hundreds of people, students claimed they'd been "subjected to hateful experiences on campus, experiences that range from microaggressions to explicit hate speech to moments that feel like racial violence" and "persecuted in and out of the classroom for simply existing."

Hundreds of students were in attendance. The BSU leadership, who spoke at the event, claimed that "what is currently happening here on campus is in fact a broader issue happening in America." They referenced President Donald Trump as the epitome of this "issue." "What we are challenging here today, it's simple. It's white institutionalism," said an opening speaker. Nearly 35% of the student body is not white.

"We are here today because black students at the Claremont Colleges have endured an increasingly hostile racial environment, from microaggressions to overt racial harm," said the co-president of the Black Student Union. "The goal of this town hall is for the Pomona College community to gain an understanding of the current racial climate here on campus as it pertains to black students and the administration's complicity in creating this harmful environment."

The students went over and over the couple of incidents that they said were part of a pattern not only of racism on campus but nationally. They determined that "black joy is a threat." 

So what do they want from the school? More bureaucracy, for one, and expulsions of students who say the "n-word," likely if those students are not black. They want an "independent bias response and accountability office, separate from existing administrative systems, because students should not have to report harm to the same structures that fail to address it." They want mandatory bias training for faculty and staff. But mostly what they want is power: "The final demands," writes the Claremont Independent, "were increased black student participation in institutional governance, 'including the hiring process,' and increased funding for black affinity groups and the Office of Black Student Affairs."

Three incidents, none of which appear to be intentionally racist, are the basis for multiple videos, a town hall, a grievance ethos, and finally, a demand for more power and control. The ask for power is not based on merit but out of an appeal to justice after alleged outrages. It's almost as though the outrages were ginned up in order for students to demand to be handed unearned power.