Published by the Jewish Journal on 12/15/2025 Pomona College has reached a voluntary resolution agreement with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (Brandeis Center), and Hillel International following allegations of antisemitism. In April of 2024, the Brandeis Center, Hillel International, and the ADL filed the federal complaint to the U.S. Department of Education, accusing the college of “permitting severe discrimination and harassment of Jewish students in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” In a statement, G. Gabrielle Starr, president of Pomona College, said, “Many Jewish students experience anti-Zionism as an attack on their Jewish identity, ethnicity, religion and/or ancestry, which means these students experience anti-Zionism as antisemitism. It is my hope that the steps we are committing to will also enhance our ability to effectively identify and address other kinds of shared ancestry discrimination. Hatred takes many forms, and understanding its complexities is key to confronting it.” Before the complaint was filed, Pomona College took steps to improve the situation on campus, most of which have now been formalized in the resolution agreement. These measures include adding shared ancestry as a category in the College’s harassment policies; updating time, place, and manner policies to be consistent with Pomona’s educational mission; developing College-sponsored programming to promote dialogue across difference, as well as a better understanding of the history, challenges and experiences of those who trace their ancestry to the Middle East; and publicly advocating for deeper engagement with Israeli educational institutions, and when they are able, with Palestinian educational institutions as well. “Antisemitism has persisted for thousands of years, and this settlement is not a one-size-fits-all toolkit,” Starr stated. “It’ll be up to our community to put it in place—and to live it.” According to the ADL, after the October 7 massacre in Israel, members of the faculty and student groups loudly supported Hamas’ attacks, blaming the victims in Israel, and making a shrine that honored the Hamas terrorists. After filing the lawsuit in 2024, Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights, said that Jewish students at Pomona, along with Occidental College in California, were “hiding in their dorms and avoiding their own campus rather than risk verbal and physical attacks… Pomona and Occidental know full well this is happening. But instead of enforcing the law and their own policies, they are caving to the anti-Semitic mob and letting them bully, harass, and intimidate Jewish students. Antisemitism left unaddressed will not go away. It will only snowball and escalate until the problem is faced head on as the law requires.” The ADL’s website stated that at first, Pomona’s administration did very little to remedy these issues. “But as the situation deteriorated, President G. Gabrielle Starr eventually began to respond. But despite her laudable, albeit belated efforts to address growing antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on campus, Pomona failed to eliminate the hostile environment, in part, because the opposition from pro-Hamas students and faculty had already grown too strong.” A Jewish sophomore at Pitzer College, which is under the Claremont Colleges umbrella with Pomona said, “From my perspective as a Jewish student leader, the Title IX settlement signals progress toward a healthier campus culture.” Josh Marx, a sophomore at Pomona, welcomes the resolution agreement. “This new settlement is a huge positive for Pomona College and all of its students,” he said. “It creates space for more constructive dialogue by creating a baseline of Antisemitism education for all and required identification at protests. It will create a structure to mitigate the effects on antisemitism on Jewish students, without infringing on any student’s rights.” In a statement on the Brandeis Center website, Deena Margolies, a staff attorney for the organization, said, “What makes this agreement so important and so strong is that they have agreed to adopt a comprehensive set of reforms to address not only the anti-Semitism on their campus but the anti-Zionism and enhance protections for Jewish and Israeli students on their campus.” She continued, “At the same time, they also address free speech, academic freedom, and the distinction between protected expression and prohibited discriminatory conduct. So, it will give a lot of guidance to the campus community.”