CMC Social Life Committee terminated BRINGING LIGHT TO BLACK RESISTANCE

ANNABELLE INK & FIONA HERBOLD

On Feb. 12, Claremont McKenna College’s Committee to Consider the Resolution on the Protection of CMC Social Life officially dissolved. The committee was established in late January at an ASCMC Senate meeting to address CMC party culture through the passing of a controversial resolution proposed by Austin Andersen CM ’25 to reduce restrictions on social life.

At a Feb. 5 senate meeting, which around 20 percent of CMC’s student body attended, students intensely debated the resolution. Supporters stood alongside members of the committee and responded to criticisms regarding the resolution and its lack of inclusivity.

When the meeting adjourned after nearly two hours, no conclusion had been reached — one noticeable change for some students, however, was the tension felt throughout the room.

“I feel like the atmosphere in the senate is one that lacks decorum,” said Senator Thomas Walker CMC ’26. “If they want change to happen I think that the number one thing they have to be is respectful and do it in a way that’s conducive to change and not something that creates tension.”

In a statement released on Feb. 17, the Social Life Committee cited this tension as one of their reasons for dissolving the committee, claiming that it was “indicative of a cultural divide on our campus.”

After the Feb. 5 senate meeting, leaders from the Social Life Committee asked to meet with Camille Forte CM ’23 privately.

Forte had been instrumental in the large turnout on Feb. 5, having emailed over 500 CMC students asking them to come to the senate meeting and share their concerns about the resolution and its lack of inclusivity.

ASCMC officers, including Diversity & Inclusion Chair

Nisha Singh CMC ’23 and President Josh Nagra CMC ’25, asked to join the meeting with Forte. Singh joined Forte in sharing her concerns.

“During that meeting, Camille and I voiced a lot of the concerns of the opposition and basically articulated that this is an issue that is going to require a lot more gradual change,” Singh said. “It requires you to bridge gaps and that doesn’t necessarily happen in a body like [the] senate.”

A working group of about 18-20 members will replace the committee to address social life at CMC. The ASCMC president, executive vice president, D&I chair and vice president of social affairs will serve as ex-officio members alongside the four leaders of the now-dissolved special committee.

All other seats will be filled by CMC students who apply to serve on the working group. The ex-officio members will

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Pomona gifted historical collection from Civil Rights legend Myrlie Evers-Williams PO ’68

JULIA PARSA & MARIANA DURAN

On Feb. 9, Pomona College announced that prominent civil rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams PO ’68 donated an archival collection of her life and work during the civil rights era to the school.

The collection, which will eventually be housed in Honnold Mudd Library, includes thousands of artifacts that “offer tangible touchpoints of Evers-Williams’ — and the nation’s — turbulent journey toward justice through the Civil Rights Era,” according to Pomona’s website.

Sorted to be a 250-feet-long line of thousands of writings, photographs and objects narrating Evers-Williams’ story, the collection will focus on Evers-Williams’ life after moving to California following her husband’s murder.

Evers-Williams was married to Medgar Evers, a civil rights activist who organized for equal rights for Black communities in Mississippi, until Evers was murdered in 1963 by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

De La Beckwith was tried twice by an all-white jury in Mississippi, but wasn’t convicted. After the trials, Evers-Williams moved with her three children to Claremont, California and she enrolled at Pomona in 1964. While at the college, Evers co-authored the book “For Us, the Living,” which narrated her life at Pomona.

“[Pomona is] where I began to grow again,” Evers-Williams said, according to Pomona’s website. “To live again. Here on this campus, [I found] people who understood and who supported me and told me, ‘Yes you can.’”

Evers-Williams sought justice for her husband’s murder for three decades before De La Beckwith was at the 5Cs

On a roll and reaching their goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal. Kicking classic coaching to the curb, Claremont Colleges men’s club soccer is challenging all comers and creating a cohesive community. Read more on page 11.