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Student government defends secret blacklists to ‘protect survivors’ on campus

Nondiscrimination policy is used to ‘silence survivors and limit their agency’

Calling someone a Communist in the 1950s might be enough to end their career. You didn’t need to provide any evidence of their supposed loyalty to the Soviets in order to exact revenge for whatever reason. Absence of evidence just proves the conspiracy.

You can do the same thing at the Claremont Consortium of five undergraduate colleges in southern California. It’s just not about marginalizing Communists.

One of those member institutions, Pomona, recently learned that some student organizations are barring certain students from their events or otherwise taking “adverse actions” against them, based on anonymous complaints.

Guess what the major rationale is for blacklisting students based on anonymous allegations.

To the surprise of no one, Pomona’s student government is now defending these blacklists on the grounds that they “protect survivors” of sexual misconduct, and denouncing the administration for promising to enforce its nondiscrimination policy.

In a letter to Pomona students earlier this month, Dean of Students Avis Hinkson and Title IX Coordinator Sue McCarthy said this casual blacklisting is tantamount to “bullying” and “must end immediately, as it is inconsistent with the College’s commitment to equity and due process”:

The use of anonymous allegations of misconduct to socially isolate or exclude students should not take the place of the College’s established procedures, which encourage reporting, provide support and ensure that all involved parties are treated fairly and that allegations of discrimination, harassment and/or sexual misconduct are confidentially handled and thoroughly investigated.

They reminded students how to report sexual misconduct, discrimination and harassment, but warned student leaders that their clubs and themselves individually may be subject to discipline if they continue blacklisting students.

MORE: Sue McCarthy ignores judge’s rejection of Pomona Title IX procedures

The Claremont Independent explains how this works, and gives an example:

In practice, anyone who sees a Facebook event page hosted by one of these 5C clubs can anonymously blacklist another student through a Google Form or other attached electronic form submission, with no necessary evidence of wrongdoing, and as a result prevent that person from accessing or attending said event. These lists could be used to de facto bar individuals based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or political beliefs.

A recent example of this practice occurred at an event called “VIVA Latino-América”  hosted on Pomona College’s campus celebrating Latin music and culture. Part of the Facebook event description read: “If you do not feel comfortable with any person attending the event due to any reason, then they will not be allowed to attend.”

The Associated Students of Pomona College doesn’t appreciate the reminder from the administration that discrimination comes in all forms, even from well-intentioned little fascists who run student governments.

In a Saturday letter that bemoans the recent confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh despite his history of “sexual violence” toward Palo Alto University Prof. Christine Blasey Ford and his less credible accusers, the ASPC Senate told students that the administration was endangering “survivor-centered spaces” by telling them to end the blacklists:

Here at Pomona, the Senate empathizes with individual and collective feelings of sadness, frustration, and overall disappointment towards institutional discourses that not only permit a cultural and social tolerance for sexual violence to exist, but also repeatedly attempt to silence survivors and limit their agency. …

To this end, the Senate would like to briefly recognize that students have felt that their recent individual and collective efforts to organically create and sustain survivor-centered spaces have been scrutinized or undermined by the administration.

MORE: In spite of student threats, Pomona hires white professor

They scolded the fuddy-duddies who run Pomona for their “lack of recognition and contextualization” of the blacklists, which are intended to counter “Pomona’s violent campus climate [citation needed] and the labor students have undertaken to protect survivors [whose claims have never been adjudicated].”

It’s just too much for students to formally report violations against them, “especially given the
severe difficulty and pain that can come from having to repeat stories of trauma.” They can’t even. It’s better to simply judge that anyone accused of anything must have done it. Because survivors.

It should be glaringly obvious that these ignorami have never heard of the Scottsboro boys, the Central Park Five or any other nonwhite group that has suffered immensely because of groundless allegations rooted in prejudice. The kind of prejudice that festers when you blindly accept accusations with no scrutiny.

The Senate plans to share new initiatives in the coming weeks that create “permanent structures of support and community accountability in regards to supporting survivors,” starting with “concerns raised about social spaces hosted by clubs and organizations.”

I can’t wait to hear what new levels of prejudice will be enabled by the enlightened Senate. Judging by the Independent‘s interviews with students about the blacklists, it sounds like whatever they come up with will get student support.

My only hope is that these student leaders are too dumb to be consistent. In the same message defending blacklists, the ASPC Senate invites “everyone” to participate in Community Accountability Day Oct. 25.

The event takes place in one room on campus, without any opportunity for students to anonymously report and banish people they dislike.

MORE: Pomona fascists who shut down ‘War on Cops’ speech evade punishment

IMAGE: Daniel Mennerich/Flickr

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About the Author
Associate Editor
Greg Piper served as associate editor of The College Fix from 2014 to 2021.