{
  "id": "2024-04-05-pomona-college-alexander-hall-arrests",
  "slug": "pomona-college-alexander-hall-arrests-2024-04-05",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Pomona College",
    "shortName": "Pomona",
    "state": "CA",
    "type": "private-liberal-arts",
    "alertSystemName": "Pomona Alert",
    "enrollment": 1700
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-04-05",
    "type": "civil-unrest",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "resolution": "police-clearance",
    "headline": "Protesters occupy the president's office; 20 arrested at Alexander Hall",
    "headlinePublic": "Protesters occupy the president's office; 20 arrested at Alexander Hall",
    "summary": "On April 5, 2024 at approximately 4:00 PM PDT, [pro-Palestine protesters from multiple Claremont Colleges](https://tsl.news/20-student-protesters-arrested-at-pomona-college/) entered Pomona's Alexander Hall through 'false pretenses' and occupied President G. Gabrielle Starr's office. Starr [emailed the community at 4:26 PM PDT](https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/04/08/pomona-college-says-anti-zionists-who-occupied-building-uttered-racial-slurs-to-be-suspended-after-arrests/) calling out an anti-Black racial slur used against an administrator. At 5:40 PM PDT, [riot-gear officers](https://www.claremontundercurrents.com/photos-pomona-college-calls-in-riot-police-to-arrest-19-students-participating-in-peaceful-sit-in/) from four police departments arrived. The first arrests came at 6:33 PM PDT. Twenty people were arrested, including students from Pomona, Scripps, and Pitzer.",
    "outcome": "Twenty people were arrested — 19 for misdemeanor trespassing and one (Sara Orr, 21) for obstructing/delaying an officer. Of those arrested: 7 Pomona students, 8 Scripps students, 5 Pitzer students. All arrested Pomona students were issued interim suspensions without a judicial hearing. The arrests sparked condemnation from Pitzer's faculty and faculty at other 5C institutions. This was the first 2024 spring-term mass-arrest event at a small liberal arts college.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2024-04-05T16:26:00-07:00",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "I am writing to update the community regarding steps we are taking after a group of individuals refused to identify themselves to Campus Safety and Student Affairs staff, and proceeded to verbally harass staff, even using a sickening, anti-black racial slur in addressing an administrator.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/04/08/pomona-college-says-anti-zionists-who-occupied-building-uttered-racial-slurs-to-be-suspended-after-arrests/",
      "sourceDescription": "Direct quote of President G. Gabrielle Starr's April 5, 2024 4:26 PM PDT community email, as quoted by Algemeiner and Claremont Independent",
      "annotations": [
        "Direct verbatim quote of President Starr's 4:26 PM PDT email opening sentences, widely reproduced in news coverage",
        "Notable for explicitly naming the racial epithet directed at a Black administrator, an unusual level of specificity in a campus alert",
        "Sent approximately 26 minutes after protesters entered Alexander Hall, indicating rapid administrative response"
      ],
      "characterCount": 289
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestampApprox": "Late evening of April 5, 2024",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Claremont COURIER and Algemeiner coverage of the late-evening community email from President Starr announcing suspensions",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "On April 5, 2024 (a Friday afternoon during a spring-term that had seen [over 200 demonstrators](https://claremont-courier.com/editors-picks/19-pomona-college-protesters-arrested-after-occupying-presidents-office-77371/) blocking College Avenue earlier in the day) a group of pro-Palestine protesters from Pomona, Scripps, and Pitzer entered Pomona's Alexander Hall around 4:00 PM PDT. Campus Safety later determined the group had [provided false information](https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/04/08/pomona-college-says-anti-zionists-who-occupied-building-uttered-racial-slurs-to-be-suspended-after-arrests/) to gain access to the locked building. Approximately 30-40 protesters occupied President G. Gabrielle Starr's office while another 100-150 demonstrators gathered outside. At 4:26 PM PDT, [Starr emailed the community](https://www.claremontindependent.com/post/claremont-police-arrest-palestine-activists-at-pomona-college) the now-widely-quoted message describing a 'sickening, anti-black racial slur' used against an administrator. At 5:40 PM PDT, [approximately 24 officers in riot gear](https://www.claremontundercurrents.com/photos-pomona-college-calls-in-riot-police-to-arrest-19-students-participating-in-peaceful-sit-in/) from the Claremont, Pomona, Azusa, and Covina police departments arrived. The first arrests came at [6:33 PM PDT](https://tsl.news/20-student-protesters-arrested-at-pomona-college/), with arrestees led from the building in zip ties. Twenty people were arrested in total — 19 for misdemeanor trespassing and one for obstructing an officer. All arrested Pomona students were issued [interim suspensions](https://www.claremontundercurrents.com/arrested-jailed-suspended-unhoused-what-happened-to-the-pomona-seven-after-april-5/) without a judicial hearing. Pitzer's [Executive Committee of the Faculty](https://www.thepomonan.com/news/2024/4/9/pitzer-colleges-faculty-condemns-pomona-colleges-suspensions-of-the-student-protesters) and faculty from across the Claremont Colleges issued statements condemning the arrests and suspensions. The event marked the first 2024 spring-term mass-arrest at a small liberal arts college and set the stage for the May 6 Marston Quad encampment and the subsequent October 7 Carnegie Hall takeover.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "First documented 2024 spring-term mass-arrest event at a small liberal arts college, distinct from the much larger Columbia, USC, and UCLA arrests that came later",
    "President Starr's 4:26 PM PDT email is one of the rare 2024 campus messages to explicitly name a racial epithet, breaking with the typical sanitized language of administrative communications",
    "The 25-minute response window from sit-in start to first community alert, and ~2.5 hours from alert to first arrest, is fast compared to Ivy/R1 timelines that often spanned days"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "20 student protesters arrested at Pomona College (The Student Life)",
      "url": "https://tsl.news/20-student-protesters-arrested-at-pomona-college/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "PHOTOS: Pomona College calls in riot police to arrest 19 students (Claremont Undercurrents)",
      "url": "https://www.claremontundercurrents.com/photos-pomona-college-calls-in-riot-police-to-arrest-19-students-participating-in-peaceful-sit-in/",
      "type": "regional-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "20 Pomona College protesters arrested after occupying president's office (Claremont COURIER)",
      "url": "https://claremont-courier.com/editors-picks/19-pomona-college-protesters-arrested-after-occupying-presidents-office-77371/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "20 arrested after Pomona College students protest (ABC7 Los Angeles)",
      "url": "https://abc7.com/pomona-college-protest-students-arrested-claremont-police-department/14626962/",
      "type": "national-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Pomona College Says Anti-Zionists Who Occupied Building, Uttered Racial Slurs to Be Suspended (Algemeiner)",
      "url": "https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/04/08/pomona-college-says-anti-zionists-who-occupied-building-uttered-racial-slurs-to-be-suspended-after-arrests/",
      "type": "national-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Claremont Police Arrest 20 Pro-Palestine Activists at Pomona College (Claremont Independent)",
      "url": "https://www.claremontindependent.com/post/claremont-police-arrest-palestine-activists-at-pomona-college",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "What happened to the Pomona Seven after April 5 (Claremont Undercurrents)",
      "url": "https://www.claremontundercurrents.com/arrested-jailed-suspended-unhoused-what-happened-to-the-pomona-seven-after-april-5/",
      "type": "regional-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Pitzer College's Faculty Condemns Pomona College's Suspensions (The Pomonan)",
      "url": "https://www.thepomonan.com/news/2024/4/9/pitzer-colleges-faculty-condemns-pomona-colleges-suspensions-of-the-student-protesters",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "civil-disturbance",
    "building-occupation",
    "mass-arrest",
    "gaza-protest",
    "divestment",
    "riot-police",
    "private-liberal-arts",
    "claremont-colleges",
    "california",
    "interim-suspension"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-14",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-16",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}