By Ben Lauren PZ ’25

On Friday Sep. 27, 37 students joined Adan Campos, a former sous chef at Pitzer College, to crowd Pitzer’s Human Resources (HR) Office, demanding fair treatment as he re-applies to work at the College after being terminated for an expired visa. At the delegation organized by the Claremont Student Workers Alliance (CSWA), students presented a petition in support of Campos that speakers claimed had been signed by over 1,200 students at the Claremont Colleges.

Having performed a similar delegation to HR in early August with a petition signed by over 70 of his former coworkers, Campos is hoping this swell of student support will put greater pressure on Pitzer’s administration as he applies for a cook position that opens in just a few days.  

Campos has been fighting to return to Pitzer for months. For eight years, Campos was employed directly by Pitzer before being offered a sous chef position by Bon Appétit Management Company, which hires the managers for Pitzer’s Dining Services. But after his visa expired, Bon Appétit terminated Campos.

While successfully renewing his visa, Campos alleges he was misled by Pitzer HR and Bon Appétit. He claimed Pitzer Associate Vice President of HR Deanna Caballero promised him he would be able to return to his former position as lead cook, but backed out; meanwhile, he also said Bon Apéttit told him they would hold his position while he renewed, but upon his return filled the position and wanted to reassign him to another location as far as Burbank. After their promises fell through, he was left without a job.

Then when Campos applied to return to Pitzer in a smaller role as a cook at Pitzer, his application was rejected within days of applying. Since then, Campos has continued to be unsuccessful in applying to Pitzer for open cook positions, being told repeatedly by HR that the positions have already been filled.

This week, CSWA has been rallying for students to stand behind Campos, releasing their petition on Sep. 23 and garnering over 1,200 signatures in just four days. The petition specifically highlighted Campos’ Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, calling on Pitzer to rehire him.

“This action of firing and refusing to return a beloved community member because of his immigration status is appalling, and is a shameful act that Pitzer college should not be partaking in,” the petition reads. “We as the concerned community members of the 5Cs demand that Pitzer rehire Adan immediately, reinstate him to his previous role, and stop engaging in shameful anti-immigrant activity.”

Meanwhile, Campos himself is simply asking that he get a fair application process. Still, he joined the large group of students as they delegated to Pitzer’s HR office on Friday.

During the delegation, Campos and three students spoke directly to three HR personnel who were in the office at the time. Campos announced that he would be applying for a cook position that would be opening to the public the next day, revealing that, in a show of solidarity, none of his former coworkers would be applying for the position.

“Most of my coworkers, they decided not to take that position, so they could give me an opportunity to try to get back inside the college,” Campos said. “I’d also like to clarify, I’m not asking you guys to break the contract, [just] give me an opportunity to apply.”

Pitzer’s collective bargaining agreement with its workers stipulates that once a position opens, it must be offered to internal candidates for 30 days before being opened to the public. According to Campos, since Pitzer HR has repeatedly told him that they hired internal candidates for the positions he has applied for, he and his former coworkers are hoping this will force Pitzer to finally give him a fair application process.

The student speakers emphasized how what they perceived as anti-immigrant behavior by the college harms all members of the Pitzer community. One speaker identified how their orientation as a grandchild of immigrants left them “utterly disgusted” by Pitzer’s behavior toward Adan.

“We rely on these people, day in day out, to feed us and to deal with this kind of bullshit day in day out,” the speaker said. “I don’t care how much any of this inconveniences your institution … Your hypocrisy is honestly vile, and it’s not going to be tolerated.”

Another student speaker claimed Pitzer’s Dining Services General Manager and Bon Appétit employee Miguel Menjivar had told Adan even if he were to be rehired, his position could be threatened if Donald Trump — who attempted to terminate DACA during his prior tenure in office — were to be elected president in November. The speaker claimed this was an act of intimidation by Menjivar.

“That is completely anti immigrant behavior,” the second speaker said. “That is language that is completely unsuitable and not in line with the values that this college claims to care about. And as students on this campus, as students who have friends that are undocumented on this campus, it is disgusting that a member of the leadership of this campus would dare to try and use Adan’s legal status as a way to intimidate him or to act as if he doesn’t deserve to be here.”

Neither Menjivar, nor Pitzer Communications Director Wendy Shattuck responded for comment on Friday’s delegation or on this allegation.

As Campos applies to Pitzer once again, a third speaker asserted that students at the Claremont Colleges will be behind him.

“We have about 1200 signatures that we’ve gotten in the last four days, and we are all paying attention to what you guys are doing,” the third speaker said. “We will continue to escalate until we get a response that reflects what your community wants, which is for Adan to get his job back.”