Pomona College in southern California is one of five undergraduate colleges and two grad schools that make up a group called the Claremont Colleges. These schools are very selective with Pomona College accepting a lower percentage of applicants than UCLA or UC Berkeley. But the school has had challenges with a group of student activists who call themselves Pomona Divest from Apartheid (PDfA).

On Oct. 7, PDfA held a student walkout similar to the one held at Columbia University on the other side of the country. Here's how they announced their plans.

"Hello, today, Oct. 7th marks one year since israel’s [sic] intensified genocide in Gaza. While we attend class, israel [sic] has destroyed all universities in Gaza and is invading Lebanon. I am walking-out of class to rally with the 60+ student orgs demanding Pomona divest from weapons manufacturers, because there can be no business as usual during genocide. Join me and walk-out---there’s safety in numbers."

Notice there's no mention of Hamas. Instead, 10/7 is referred to as the anniversary of "Israel's intensified genocide in Gaza." In short, these dopes are whitewashing a mass murder of civilians by a terrorist group. After the walk out they started chanting "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." 

The group then marched to Carnegie Hall where classes were being held and shoved their way in past security.

Two administrators briefly attempted to block the doors and ID scanner, but were overwhelmed by the mass of protesters. One Campus Safety official was injured as the students poured in, rolling her ankle. Organizers announced over megaphones that “Today this is a People’s University for Palestine,” and that demonstrators would be leaving at 4:00 P.M. 

Inside, students chanted while organizers handed out pamphlets. Lead organizers commandeered multiple classrooms to lead “teach-in” sessions for participants. 

A list of approved chants obtained by the Independent includes “Intifada intifada, LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA,” “Hey hey ho ho! iSRAEL [sic] HAS GOT TO GO,” and We don't want two states, WE WANT ‘48!” 

Professors told students in the classes being disrupted that they could leave, but one Jewish student said they didn't feel safe walking through the throng of activists chanting about the Intifada. The activists also zip-tied the doors shut and blocked entrances so no one else could come in. As you can see in this video clip, some students were forced to climb out of windows to get away.

This is what the Jewish girl said: “We couldn’t leave because they were in the building blocking the doors and everything. I wasn’t going to walk through the middle of it… I wouldn’t have felt very safe walking through hundreds of people yelling things that [I] especially as a…

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) October 9, 2024

The activists then turned their attention to vandalizing the building.

The protestors sealed the building with zip-ties. pic.twitter.com/CjyEK98h5l

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) October 9, 2024

One professor whose office is in the building was stuck inside because the activists would not let him back into his office to get his phone. He told the Claremont Independent he was shoved by the activists and added, "People were pretty nasty for two or three hours."

Midway through those two to three hours the school put out a statement condemning the action and threatening consequences.

A 1:28 p.m. email from Pomona College read in part, “What started as a peaceful protest this morning has now turned into a subset of individuals currently taking over Carnegie Hall and disrupting academic continuity. Carnegie Hall is now closed, and all individuals should leave that building.”

The email went on to advise all to “please stay away from Carnegie and its immediate surrounding area, to ensure everyone’s safety. We will not permit the presence of masked, unidentified individuals on our campus refusing to show identification when asked. Nor will we stand for the takeover of buildings and the disruption of academic continuity — all of which happened today. Anyone involved in this disruption is subject to disciplinary action.

“We uphold the right to free speech and to protest within the lines of our long-established Claremont Colleges demonstration policy,” it continued. “As always, peaceful protest is allowed within demonstration policy. This action goes beyond policy.”

If they were serious about consequences, they could have just called the police and asked the to arrest everyone in the building. But they didn't do that. Instead, the activists stayed for another two hours and then just left by the back door without being identified or stopped by security. Once it was over, the school sent out another email claiming to have identified some of the activists.

We have initial identification of several people involved, including a number of individuals from other campuses. As we identify others, disciplinary letters will be sent on a rolling basis. The individuals responsible face sanctions that may include restitution, suspension, expulsion, as well as being banned from campus. We will not, however, be commenting on individual cases.

So we'll have to wait and see. Mostly what we've seen in the past is administrators make a show of threats to suspend or expel students and maybe a handful will ultimately be disciplined, but the majority involved in this stunt will get away scot-free. That of course increases the odds it will happen again.