By Ben Lauren PZ ’25

As Pitzer College’s Board of Trustees arrived for their first meeting of the semester on Feb. 7, they were confronted by dozens of letters addressed to Pitzer President Strom Thacker and the members of the Board awaiting them at their seats.

The letters, handwritten and signed anonymously by members of Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), are part of an ongoing campaign by the group calling on Pitzer to fully divest from weapons and war manufactures.

On Feb. 11, another round of letters addressed to the President were delivered at Thacker’s Open Office Hour. These were written at a letter writing event hosted by SJP on Feb. 10 in the Grove House. 

The letter deliveries are the organization’s first move against Pitzer’s administration since Pomona College levied six charges against Claremont SJP last fall. While Pomona’s Judicial Council only found them responsible on one of the charges — irresponsible or negligent conduct — Claremont SJP, like many other groups, struggled to publicly organize amidst a shifting protest culture at the Claremont Colleges and Pomona enforcing a suspension of their Instagram account.

“SJP is fully back in full force, and we’re super committed to divestment, and that’s never gonna stop,” a Claremont SJP organizer, granted anonymity for fear of administrative retaliation, said. “We know that we keep each other safe and that we can think about creative ways to organize, and we don’t care about the administrative bullshit that they try to put us through.”

The organizer described the campaign as a creative alternative to traditional protest. They emphasized the letters are a direct response to Pomona’s unprecedented retaliation against student protest last semester. Specifically, handwritten letters aim to call a contradiction to the family-oriented image Thacker presents to the public and the image of him opening each personally addressed letter as a way to appeal to his heartstrings, explained the organizer.

“The letter writing campaign is to signify to the board and to Strom Thacker that organizing will not stop, and it will never stop, regardless of any fear tactic that any of the Claremont schools try to implement,” they said.

Claremont SJP sent The Outback a letter they gave to the Board on Feb. 7, which called Pitzer out for failing to live up to its Core Values.

“I truly think it is possible to imagine better futures where we are all safe,” the letter read. “I hoped Pitzer would give me the tools to keep building towards these futures … Yet, I feel sickened by the contradiction between my safe, supporting, learning experience here … and the mass-martyrdom occurring in Gaza.”

Claremont SJP plans to deliver more letters throughout the semester. The organization hosted an open letter-writing session on Feb. 10. They asked students to write from personal experience, posing them questions to address in their letters.

“What kind of message does it send the campus community seeing these institutions with money invested in genocide?” An instructional sheet handed out at the session read. “How can a collective action, like divestment, support broader movements for justice + freedom?”

Highlighting this semester as a critical juncture for organizing at the 5Cs, the Claremont SJP member called on the Pitzer and 5C community to join them in their non-traditional campaign.

“Personally, I feel like I walk around Pitzer and I’m constantly struck and disgusted by all the hypocrisies, and those feelings should be expressed to the Board of Trustees and to Strom,” they said. “We’re just going to keep accumulating these letters … And we’re going to keep delivering them to the meetings and making sure that … they’re hearing from us.”

Pitzer College and its Board of Trustees did not respond for comment by publication.