Pomona College and Claremont Graduate University have moved into exclusive, confidential negotiations over a possible transaction that could make CGU a legal subsidiary of Pomona. The institutions began talks in late spring and entered exclusive negotiations in December, and they expect to negotiate a definitive agreement over the next six months. CGU has been exploring partners for over a year as it confronts financial and demographic pressures; it says any deal must preserve CGU’s name, graduate mission, academic autonomy and separate degrees. Pomona has emphasized that its undergraduate liberal-arts mission will not be altered and that the agreement would not convert CGU into an undergraduate program. For campus leaders and trustees across the consortium, the talks signal a strategic response to small-graduate-institution vulnerability: legal structuring, shared administrative services, and preservation of academic identity are among the models being tested. Faculty governance, accreditation implications and donor stewardship will be central issues if negotiations proceed.