Getting involved is easy at Pomona. With so many choices, the hard thing is deciding what not to do.

Any list of organizations at Pomona is only a snapshot. New interest groups and organizations are founded and funded with great frequency. Some, like the Mortarboard Society and Kappa Delta fraternity, have been around for years; others are created in response to political or societal issues; still others vanish and are reborn as student interests shape the times. If you see a void, consider it an invitation to start something new—that’s the Pomona spirit. In fact, even first-year students have found the support they need to get a club up and running. Evan Stalker and Ian Carr received seed money to revive Studio 47, a film and production studio, and in their first year sponsored two film festivals, set up a rental service for students and supplied VJ equipment for campus parties. Julie Tate began researching the possibility of starting a 5C equestrian club during spring semester of her first year and by the next fall was attending regional horse shows with 19 active members. One of the most impressive examples of student commitment was the creation of Campus Climate Challenge, which within its first year of operation prepared a report on greenhouse gas emissions and started a Dorm Green Cup Challenge that led to students reducing their consumption of electricity by an average of eight percent. With a budget of about $400,000, the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) contributes to the support of both Pomona-based clubs and those that serve the 5C community, as well as funding many of the activities that take place on campus.

Public Events

Film series, speakers, lectures, trips and parties are organized by student government and individual clubs, by residence halls and sponsor groups. The College, academic departments and student groups invite performing artists and guest speakers in every field to campus. Many visitors stay several days, lecturing, conducting workshops or master classes and meeting informally with students. A sampling of recent speakers on the Pomona campus includes public figures (former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Senators John Edwards, Dianne Feinstein, and Bob Graham, activist Angela Davis, former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki); Nobel laureates (Gerald M. Edelman, Robert H. Grubbs, K. Barry Sharpless, Herbert Simon); noted journalists (Walter Cronkite, Haynes Johnson, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller ’70); literary figures (Edward Jones, Carlos Fuentes, bell hooks, Garrison Keillor); social scientists (political theorist Benjamin Barber, Mexican scholar Carlos Montemayor and feminist theologian Judith Plaskow); and perfoming artists (The Ataris, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Itzhak Perlman).

Media

Pomona’s weekly The Student Life, the oldest student newspaper in Southern California, is written, edited and managed entirely by Pomona students. Other publications at Pomona and the 5C campuses include:

• The Claremont Student, a 5C newspaper
• Harmony, a multicultural newspaper
• Metate, the Pomona yearbook
• Passwords, a literary magazine
• The Re-View, a feminist newspaper

Known as “The Space,” KSPC-FM (88.7 and www.kspc.org), has been broadcasting music, news, sports, talk shows and public affairs programming for more than 50 years, earning a reputation as one of the area’s best sources for alternative music. Over 100 students from all five undergraduate colleges help operate the station as producers, engineers, business managers and in various on-air positions. Located in the basement of Thatcher Music Building, the KSPC offices include two sound studios.

Theatre and Dance

Dance and theatre productions feature student artists in performances of classic and contemporary plays, kabuki, musicals and original works. Majors and non-majors alike have the opportunity to perform onstage and work behind the scenes in every aspect of theatre—direction, playwriting, lighting, sound, set construction and costume design. Recent productions include: Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Sondheim’s Into the Woods, Sarah Ruhl’s Melancholy Play, Arlene Hutton’s As It Is In Heaven, Ibsen’s The Master Builder, Anouilh’s Waltz of the Toreadors, and Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia.

Visual Arts

The fine art collections of Pomona College are housed in the Pomona College Museum of Art. Among its holdings—selections of which are displayed on a rotating basis—are all four of Francisco de Goya’s etching series and more than 5,000 examples of Pre-Columbian to 20th-century Native American art and artifacts. The museum also brings to campus each year a wide range of exhibits, both historical and contemporary, designed to complement the College’s curricula. The Pomona Student Art Gallery in the Smith Campus Center is dedicated to the display of student photography, painting, ceramics, sculpture, mixed media and electronic works. The Pomona College Museum of Art also hosts several student exhibitions each year.

Music

Whatever type of music you’re interested in, you’ll find it here. From rock-’n’-roll garage band performances in the residence halls to symphony concerts in Little Bridges, Pomona offers something for every musical taste—for both performers and fans. If you want to hone your opera singing skills, there are private classes with professional instructors; if you like a cappella, there are several groups for both men and women; or, if you want to just sit back and listen to a concert, the College has a full and varied schedule of performances by visiting artists.

Each year about 300 students participate in music ensembles, which draw their membership from The Claremont Colleges and the local community. The groups include choir, glee club, orchestra, concert band, jazz ensemble, gospel choir, various chamber groups, Balinese Gamelan, and a second non-Western music ensemble, which changes its emphasis from year to year.

Religious Activities

Dedicated to empowering and enhancing spiritual life at The Claremont Colleges, the Interfaith Office of the Chaplains directs the programs of the McAlister Center for Religious Activities. Assisting students in making contact with members of their community of belief, the chaplains – a Protestant minister, a Catholic priest, and a Jewish rabbi – coordinate a wide range of events, programs, and provide pastoral counseling for the Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Zen, Latter-Day Saints, Christian Science, Unitarian, and other communities.

The chaplains also direct The Claremont Colleges Community Service Center, which provides diverse volunteer opportunities in the local area. Located within the McAlister Center are the Community Service Office, a meditation chapel, a library, a fireside lounge and the chaplains’ offices.