DISCOVR (Disability Community and Validating Relationships) and students of the Claremont Colleges have the following demands:

1. Live-stream all in-person lectures with students having the choice to go in person or attend the live-stream;
2. Repeal the in-person attendance requirement; and
3. Ensure that students with COVID-19 can access their classes remotely.

Disabled, immunocompromised, and other concerned students deserve an education without fear for their physical safety. The Omicron variant is ravaging the nation, infecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, and contributing to what may become one of the largest mass disabling events in modern history. But the Claremont Colleges are denying requests to learn remotely -- even from students who have high-risk health conditions.

Let us be clear: this is about equitable access to education. During the midst of a pandemic, disabled students are being told to either risk their health or forfeit their education. Students are being denied remote accommodations for classes that are required to graduate. The Colleges are even advising students to drop out until the pandemic subsides. At some of the Colleges, even faculty members who want to provide a hybrid option are barred from doing so.

For many, the stakes cannot be higher. There are students with autoimmune disorders worried about their disease progressing, students with respiratory conditions anxious about the ability of their lungs, students wanting to protect immunosuppressed family members. 

Perhaps one needs to return to the message inscribed on the Pomona College gates, the founding member of the Claremont Colleges: “Let only the eager, thoughtful, and reverent enter here.”

We ask the Colleges: let us enter.