I received today a card from the Office of Annual Giving, asking for donations to help cover the increasingly high cost of electricity. I appreciate the contribution Pomona has made to my life, and intend to eventually show my appreciation through a donation.

My gift will, I hope, go to enhancing the quality of education at Pomona. Perhaps it will help add another professor; maybe it will go to laboratory equipment. Or perhaps it will buy a few of the pins for the bowling alley they once talked about putting in the basement of the Coop. This is what alumni donations are all about - helping to make our alma mater a place which continues to excel and make us proud.

But covering for administration’s egregious mistakes is not where I want to see my money go. Sure, thousands of business across California are suffering from our energy shortage. These businesses, like Pomona College, decided to save money on electricity rates by accepting power cut-offs during periods of exceptionally high usage. Certainly, nobody expected the current energy crisis. But nor was it theoretically impossible.

And Pomona was in a unique position. Wal-Mart might choose to turn off the lights and inconvenience a few customers. But when Pomona turns off the lights, it renders students unable to study. It shuts down experiments. It tells 1,200 tenants that $25,000 a year pays for housing but, oops, utilities are extra. In an article you all ran a few weeks ago, administration members admitted that they had only anticipated usage reductions in the summer, when no students were around. Anticipating this requires an understanding that interruptions might take place at an undesirable time, when students were around.

The administration has a responsibility to its students and to its tenants. This responsibility is to give them what they paid for - an education and positive on-campus environment, one not compromised by a lack of electricity. This should be simple and self-evident. Putting Pomona College on any energy-usage-limiting list was a mistake, and a foreseeable one.

I want to make my college better. Turning the electricity on is not better. It’s minimally acceptable. It’s fixing a boneheaded mistake made by the administration months ago. I hope my alma mater isn’t satisfied with that.

Sincerely,

Wade Armstrong ‘97