<p>So my younger brother is considering joining me at Pomona College next fall, I’m a sophomore now.
Seeing as he frequents this site and has found it useful I figured I’d share the same insight that I shared with him when he visited. I became deeply disappointed with the college ideologically and socially. I’m a resident of California so prior to coming I’d visited the college, had what I perceived as a successful interview and really liked it, talked to some cool people and got really excited about the school and after being accepted I decided to come here.
Over my two years here there’s been a really serious labor conflict that’s made me and a lot of other students extremely uncomfortable. Coming from a student who talks to the people that are working in the dining halls and feeding me, it’s become apparent that the situation is really horrible. But you really feel it when a fellow classmate gets a chair kicked towards them in public, on campus, by a manager of these workers who was in the middle of a meeting with students.
The campus is really polarized between a majority of students who truly do not care and the kids in support of the workers and it really sucks when I’ve found out that all of this discomfort is because of ideological problems that the college I’m paying for has. The college that’s preaching an intellectual importance and comes off as a generally perfect all around school with really cool, nice and down to earth people has disappointed me (and not only me, I do talk to other students) in full.</p>
<p>Time to transfer if it bothers you so much? Or join the school paper and write about it? I wonder why that dominates the assessment of your college, it seems imbalanced. Have you investigated all sides of the story as a reporter instead of as a gossip monger? Any one-off jerk can kick a chair and it is neither here nor there as to the matter at hand. It is more of separate issue of reporting any conduct to proper authorities if it is out of line.</p>
<p>My D1 toured Pomona two years ago, and the labor issue was apparent. Many, many students had flyers about a protest rally or messages of support for the workers pasted on their dorm doors. I’m sorry to hear that it’s still ongoing.</p>
<p>I’m generally suspicious of first-time posters with complaints, but on the off-chance that he’s sincere: Pomona is not alone in having labor issues. Most of the time, the students don’t care. You could transfer to another school with the same sort of attitude. Or, you could spend another two years at Pomona doing your best to work for a solution, or at least for a better level of discourse. You can stay and continue speaking to the people working in the dining halls, letting them know you support them.</p>
<p>… but I don’t think the students would be any more aware or caring of this at any other campus as SlitheyTove stated.</p>
<p>I know the workers who keep the campuses at UC maintenanced and the dining rooms serviced, probably have a lot more teeth, but campus-worker issues abound there also as we’ve seen recently.</p>
<p>One would think that UC students of all would onto these issues, and there are certainly some, a decent amount that are, that will protest with these workers carrying signs in protest, etc, but the vast majority probably don’t care either, and walk right through the lines of protest.</p>
<p>It’s not easy finding yourself wearing two hats, one as a labor supporter and another as a consumer of services, but some LACs do manage to take an interest in its workers:
[It?s</a> Time For Student Solidarity with Campus Workers ? The Wesleyan Argus](<a href=“http://wesleyanargus.com/2010/11/16/it’s-time-for-student-solidarity-with-campus-workers/]It?s”>The Wesleyan Argus | It’s Time For Student Solidarity with Campus Workers)
[Dining</a> workers call students to action ? The Wesleyan Argus](<a href=“http://wesleyanargus.com/2007/09/18/dining-workers-call-students-to-action/]Dining”>The Wesleyan Argus | Dining workers call students to action)
[Forum</a> to address janitor issue ? The Wesleyan Argus](<a href=“http://wesleyanargus.com/2004/12/10/forum-to-address-janitor-issue/]Forum”>The Wesleyan Argus | Forum to address janitor issue)</p>
<p>A son of a friend of mine recently graduated from Wesleyan and his one comment is that just about every student there is trying to lead a protest or fight for a cause. Not surprised Wesleyan students jumped at this issue.</p>
<p>I have no knowledge of the particulars in the labor dispute at Pomona and so I won’t take one side or the other. I have observed, however, that the same students who typically protest in support of unions and workers on campus are also the first ones to object to tuition increases. They seem to be oblivious of the fact that labor costs are far and away the biggest expense that colleges have and that the vast majority of colleges are highly dependent upon tuition revenue. College administrators who try to hold the line on increasing labor costs are doing so in order to benefit students (and their parents) who pay tuition. If they really cared about the workers–these students would petition the administration to raise tuition and direct the increased revenue to workers’ wages and benefits. Fat chance.</p>
<p>but, you’re not taking one side or the other. :)</p>
<p>I came across this thread when I was looking for news about this issue at Pomona, and thought that I would add my impression as a high school senior who’s applied to Pomona.</p>
<p>I heard about the union campaign when I visited Pomona last year – some students gave me flyers about the union during a tour. And when we had an info session with the president they hung a big banner from the balcony.</p>
<p>It definitely seems like there are a lot of students at Pomona College who are really unhappy with the administration. I don’t know all the details about what’s been happening there, but with that many angry students it seems like things aren’t exactly as perfect at Pomona College as the admissions office pretends. It might be cool to be a part of something exciting like a union fight, but I think that I’d also like to go to a school where the students are happier with their college.</p>
<p>I still applied to Pomona, but I’m a lot cooler on it than I was when I first heard about the school.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call the students at Pomona “angry”.
If anyone wants to try to read up on this at the school newspaper: [The</a> Student Life | The Student Life](<a href=“http://tsl.pomona.edu/new/]The”>Anti Film-Bro: Can Greta Gerwig save Barbie? - The Student Life)</p>
<p>I haven’t visited Pomona yet, but since it’s one of my top choices, I read the student newspaper pretty regularly and came across this labor conflict earlier this year. I was suspicious of this at first, but upon reading about it more closely and watching some of the videos at workersforjustice.org, i’ve found Pomona’s administration’s actions pretty disturbing. Pomona still looks pretty cool though. I’m not really sure what to make of this. I think I’ll try to learn more if I actually get in and visit.</p>
<p>I’m still confused what this entire conflict is about… the shafting of froyo, meat on Mondays, and some food donation program???</p>
<p>This doesn’t sound like something that would send a rift through the school or the overwhelming majority of the student population would be worked up over. However, the reporter of the article was trying to marginalize the conflict and I don’t have all the details so I don’t know what to think.</p>