Words by Ben Lauren PZ ’25 and Willa Umansky PZ ’27

Graphic by Willa Umansky PZ ’27

On March 3, Pomona, Scripps, and Pitzer Colleges all received an F grade on their Campus Antisemitism Report Cards issued by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Three weeks earlier, the ADL and the Louis D. Brandeis Center filed a Title VI complaint against Scripps. 

Then, on March 18, the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) opened a Title IV shared ancestry investigation into Pomona. On March 27, the OCR opened a shared ancestry investigation into Scripps. That same day, Pomona received an inquiry from the House Education and Workforce committee seeking information about campus protests since October 7, 2023.

This comes in the wake of President Trump’s signing of executive order “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism.” Last month, the Trump administration warned 60 higher education institutions, including Pomona, across the country receiving a “warning of potential enforcement actions” from the government. 

These events have brought conversations about Jewish life on campus to the forefront. In 2020, Hillel international ranked The Claremont Colleges as having the 33rd largest Jewish population among American private colleges. There are six prominent Jewish organizations on campus — Claremont Chabad, Claremont Hillel, Haverim Claremont, the Jewish Chaplaincy, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and Nishmat 5C — ranging in political and religious affiliation. 

In a March 30 statement , acting Pomona President Robert R. Gaines “stress[ed] that the College is firmly committed to ensuring a welcoming environment for all and to supporting the right of all of our students, including our Jewish students, to a Pomona education.”

Gaines cited Pomona’s cooperation with the ADL as proof of their commitment. Ezra Levinson PZ ’27, who is on steering for JVP, explained how Pomona’s engagement with the ADL can not only be isolating for Jewish students like her, but potentially useless.

“I think that when one of the Presidents cites their collaboration with the ADL as the central example of their efforts to protect Jewish students, what that tells [me] is that they have no interest in protecting Jewish students like me,” Levinson expounded. “It’s not only incredibly misguided on its face, because cooperation with the ADL isn’t going to help Pomona anywhere … Columbia was targeted by the ADL, [receiving] very similar request paper documents from Congress, responded to it, and then proceeded to lose $400 million in federal funding. Cooperation here with the ADL, with the federal government, isn’t going to save the college from repression.”

Ayelet Morris SC ’26, who is on the Board of Claremont Chabad — self-described in their Instagram bio as a “fun and welcoming 5C Jewish community” — explained that while she believes antisemitism is a serious issue on the campuses of the Claremont Colleges, she disagreed with the ADL’s tactics.

“It’s complicated, but in my personal opinion, I don’t think the lawsuits are productive,” Morris said. “In the grand scheme of things, if there is an issue of antisemitism on campus … I don’t think the lawsuit was the best way to approach that.”

Levinson offered insight into what she thinks would be a supportive and valuable course of action from Pomona.

“What the administration of Pomona needs to do, what the administration of all these colleges need to do, is realize that they need to be on the side of dissent. They need to be on the side of their students, they need to be on the side of protest, and they need to start acting accordingly before the window of opportunity to do that closes.”

Morris also questioned whether the government’s attempts to address antisemitism are truly genuine, pointing out the risks for Jewish students by making false accusations. 

“A valid concern of antisemitism gets clumped in with the Trump administration and everything else that’s going on and … they’re taken less seriously,” Morris said.

Levinson talked about the meaningful history behind Jewish presence in higher education institutions.

“I think it’s important to acknowledge that the history of Jews in America is the history of an overwhelmingly marginalized, discriminated against population fighting to gain access to the university system, and then using that access to create new opportunities,” they said. “It is especially disappointing, because of that, to see Jewish organizations like the ADL turn around and attack those very same universities. I don’t think that it’s a matter of drawing a distinction between what’s good for Jewish students and what’s good for other students, I think what’s good for [all] students is thriving open, free university spaces that allow us to study and to learn and to be fully a part of our communities.”

The Education and Workforce committee’s inquiry requests information on student protests dating back to Oct. 7, 2023, including the Pomona students suspended and 7C students banned for their presence during the Carnegie Hall takeover on Oct. 7th, 2024.

At 10:31 p.m, on Sunday, March 30, Pitzer President Strom C. Thacker emailed the Pitzer community with the subject “Congressional Inquiry to Pomona.” Thacker shared the link to both the congressional inquiry and Pomona’s response and assured “that Pitzer remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding our core values, the protection of student privacy, and ensuring a supportive and inclusive learning environment for all.” 

Thacker did not reference antisemitism or the Jewish community in his statement.

Though Scripps President Amy Marcus-Newhall stated the school would cooperate on their Title VI investigation, as of publication Scripps’ administration has not commented on the ADL complaint or the congressional inquiry into Pomona.

“I don’t feel like they’re out to get me, but I also don’t feel connected to the administration, or really seen by them,” Morris said. “Scripps does tend to stay silent or take more time to make statements which feels like they don’t want to pick a side … Sometimes it feels like they wait for something to blow over just to save face.”

Overall, Morris was skeptical about the inquiry’s attempt at genuinely curbing antisemitism given that she believes Pomona has regularly denounced it as a form of hate.

“I think it’s weird because Pomona does make a statement that antisemitism is not tolerated,” Morris said. “Pomona [makes] the bigger headlines, and I think that’s what’s about … Making an example out of colleges.”