Image credit: Harvey Mudd College
On Wednesday, September 25, protests at Harvey Mudd College’s fall career fair turned “unpeaceful” according to HMC President Harriet Nembhard after individuals protesting defense contractors present at the fair attempted to force their way into the venue.
Attended by 39 employers and graduate schools, including defense contractors, the fair was targeted by Pomona Divest from Apartheid (PDfA) and Mudders Against Murder (MAM, also known as HMC Dissenters), two Claremont Colleges activist groups demanding that the Claremont Colleges divest and disassociate from defense companies.
An email from Nembhard to Harvey Mudd students on September 26th stated that the school was made aware of plans to protest the event by PDfA, MAM, and Claremont Student & Worker Alliance social media posts calling students to action. “RALLY to SHUT DOWN WAR PROFITEERS,” reads MAM’s post urging students to show up at the fair and “act against genocidal corporations at the 5Cs.”
The post mentions companies slated to be at the club fair, including Northop Grumman, one of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers, as well as software companies like ServiceNow, which sells a cloud-computing platform. They also describe the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, another employer at the club fair, as “lynchmen.”
According to Nembhard, HMC administrators decided to take precautionary measures to “ensure that all students could access the employers and graduate school representatives at the Career Fair uninterrupted.” This included setting up fencing and staffing additional campus safety officers.
Sign-in tables manned by HMC staff were set up on the patio leading to the main entrance of the Linde Activities Center, where the fair was taking place. Students had to swipe in and were not allowed to bring bags inside. According to The Student Life, their reporters were not allowed to enter the venue because HMC had promised employers there would be no photo or video in the venue.
Close to the scheduled start of the fair at 11:00am, a group of around 40 masked protestors arrived at the event. Initially, they remained in a grassy area across from the entrance, chanting and holding large signs as students entered. According to Nembhard, the protestors were not asked to identify themselves. Roughly a dozen Campus Safety officers and six HMC deans were present at various points during the protest.
After approximately 45 minutes, the protestors converged on the entrance, and pushed aside the tables and fencing. According to Nembhard, HMC staff members were injured when the tables were pushed into their abdomens. One became pinned by a table, resulting in bruises.
Campus Safety officers briefly tried to prevent the protestors from passing through, and video shows Campus safety staff, as well as contracted security guards, pushing back the protestors before they were forced their way through. Once past the check-in table, the protesters attempted to enter the building, but the doors had been locked. Some also jumped onto the registration tables, splashing paint on computers and the patio. The protestors then regrouped where the sign-in area had been, creating their own barricade with a large black banner reading “HMC: CUT DEFENSE TIES,” in red lettering.
By this time, a Campus Safety golf cart had arrived near the entrance, and a dispersal warning was issued by a large speaker mounted on the vehicle. Nembhard’s email elaborated on the nature of the speaker, which she revealed to be a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), a crowd and threat control tool used by law enforcement. Photo and video from Claremont Undercurrents shows Mike Hallinan, the Director of Campus Safety, controlling the device with a remote.
The dispersal message, which warned the protestors that they were in violation of college policy and subject to disciplinary sanctions and possible arrest, was preceded by an alarm beeping at a high-pitch. LRADs, depending on the model, can emit sound as loud as over 160 decibels. Sound above 120 dB is considered dangerous and can lead to permanent hearing damage. The model used by Campus Safety on Wednesday has a maximum continuous output of 137 dB. It is unknown how loud the announcement and alarm were played at the protest, but an eyewitness stated that it was “slightly louder than a fire alarm,” and “seemed to be pretty ineffective.”
In her email, Nembhard stated that the Student Affairs office would “follow up with our student protesters to offer support,” in light of the device’s use and the physical confrontation with Campus Safety officers.
As the message was broadcast, small groups broke off from the main body of protestors and went around the building, trying to gain access through side entrances, which were also locked. Students and others inside the LAC were apparently unable to exit the building while the protest was ongoing.
By 12:30pm, the protest subsided, and the fair re-opened. Police were not called to the protest, and no participants were arrested. It is unknown whether any protesters have been identified by HMC or Campus Safety, and whether any will face disciplinary consequences.
A HMC student interviewed by the Independent explained to us that he was only able to attend the fair for less than an hour due to the protest, only speaking to two companies. “I also saw many students walking around campus dressed up with resumes in hand who started walking towards the career fair, saw everything happening, and either turned around or walked right past,” the student told us. Several of those students later told him they didn’t end up going to the fair, HMC’s only in-person career fair this semester.
On Thursday, October 3rd, the President and Deans hosted an “open dialogue session” in which community members were asked for their input on “the basic physical and psychological security” expected at the College, and how the College could protect “all campus activities… as essential to student learning.”
After the event, an email provided a form for students to express their thoughts confidentially and reiterated that there would be further communications about the events of September 25th.
The protest marks the first substantial confrontation between protesters and Campus Safety since the April 5th arrests of 20 students occupying Pomona College’s Alexander Hall. Large-scale protests are expected on Monday, October 7th, with PDfA and its allied organizations announcing a walk-out across the colleges at 10:07am to mark the one-year anniversary of the war between Hamas and Israel, which the groups have labeled genocide.