A letter sent to Chancellor Mildred Garcia, Governor Gavin Newsom, and the CSU Board of Trustees on April 29 urgently demands the “immediate removal and termination” of President Tom Jackson, and his recently hired Chief of Staff, Mark Johnson. Signed by 320 faculty and staff, the letter details how Cal Poly Humboldt’s most senior leadership duo not only mishandled the response to the pro-Palestine protest, which began on April 22, but also endangered the campus community, inflamed the situation, and did not act upon the principles of shared governance core to campus culture. At the time of publishing this article, no response had been received from any of the three parties who received the urgent plea.
The letter highlighted three keynote actions (and non-actions) related to the week-long protest, which the demand for both terminations hinged upon. (1) The leadership’s decision to bring in police on April 22 and the evening of April 29 and early morning of April 30, (2) a failure to communicate, collaborate with the campus community during the decision making process, and (3) the initial closure, and following ‘hard’ closure of campus.
While some members of administration were present on the quad on Monday April 22, neither Jackson nor Johnson were. This detachment from the evolving protest, as well as a years-long absence from conversation, collaboration, and communication with the campus community led to the ill-informed decision to deploy police onto protesting students on that Monday, according to the letter.
“The President’s decisions to bring in law enforcement, before even attempting to communicate with student protestors, followed by the “hard campus closure” on April 27, 2024 has intensified rather than de-escalated the situation,” reads the letter.
The presidents’ complete absence of leadership during the protest, which ended after hundreds of riot police descended onto campus, has resulted in a complete loss of trust between the president and the campus community, according to the letter.
“Decisions affecting the entire university have been made without any input from shared governance bodies. This unilateral approach renders meaningful dialogue and problem-solving impossible,” reads the letter.
The letter closes by calling for the immediate termination of both Jackson and Johnson.
“We have lost faith in President Jackson and Chief of Staff Johnson’s ability to lead Cal Poly Humboldt with integrity, foresight, or concern for the well-being of our learning community,” reads the letter.
Neither Jackson nor Johnson were available for an interview. Jackson has been contacted for an interview over 60 times by The Lumberjack since Aug. 2023. He has never responded.
The letter follows an April 25 general faculty vote of ‘no-confidence’ in Jackson and Johnson. The vote passed 197 affirmative, 3, negative, and 7 abstained.
The leadership’s closure of campus significantly impacted the ability for university faculty and staff to fulfill their roles effectively. Among those 320 signatories was Dan Barton, wildlife department chair, who held office hours adjacent to the cement blockades and police on LK Wood Boulevard near the library circle in the days during the campus closure.
“I sat out there in a lawn chair and I met with students and I talked to them about how they were doing,” Barton said.
After several days at his new crosswalk office, Barton was threatened with arrest by a Humboldt County Sheriff Department deputy. According to Barton, the deputy stated that the university’s property line extended to the freeway, and therefore, Barton was violating the campus closure by conducting office hours on the crosswalk, next to the cement blockades. Additionally, Barton said, the deputy told him that he was violating a city ordinance which prohibits blocking a crosswalk.
“I have been threatened with termination by my employer and suspension by my employer and legal action for setting foot on the very campus that I, along with all my colleagues have helped to build and maintain into what it is now,” Barton said. “I have never been more deeply insulted than that.”
Barton said that the two previous weeks have been two of the “most stressful” weeks of his career.
First on the list of faculty and staff signatures is James Woglom, chair of the university senate, who was in communication with both protest leaders as well as top university administrators throughout the week-long protest. On Friday, April 26, Woglom called a representative with “access to or relationship with the Chancellor’s office” who told him that forced entry into the protester-occupied Siemens Hall by Friday’s end had been discouraged, but not yet agreed upon. After this call, Woglom relayed the potentially imminent threat to students.
“I began to tell everyone I saw, including students, faculty, and community members, that ‘The threat of force was real, the threat of force was imminent, and folks should either run away from armed people or submit to peaceful arrest,’” Woglom wrote in his Senate Chair Report.
Woglom said he now sees how his actions on the 26th were “probably fairly irrational.” As the clarity of hindsight begins to shine upon the chaos of late April on campus, what remains most prominent among those involved, -on all sides of the situation- is the great personal toll this has taken.
“I’ve been about as sad and scared and angry as I’ve ever been in my entire life,” Woglom said.
A large part of Woglom’s frustration stemmed from Jackson and Johnson’s complete failure to engage with the campus community during the weeks-long crisis.
“There has been a backslide in good faith engagement with shared governance – with the idea that we all need to be making decisions,” Woglom said. “We’re not even that big of a school, you know. We’re a few 1000 people. And if we can’t engage in democracy on this scale, if we’re just gonna give up on it because it’s difficult, because it’s a slog, because it’s too nuanced and complex…I’m getting heated because I’m talking about it now.”
Despite Cal Poly Humboldt’s expansive network of green compost bins and a history of leading the charge towards sustainability, nearly all of the green compost bins on campus eventually end up in landfill, according to two student recycling assistants. Committed to sustainability in the face of its difficulties, the university purchased a new composter (technically referred to as a dehydrator) for $147,017 in October 2023. However, the composter has not been functional since its first couple of weeks on campus due to a pungent, bothersome smell.
The compost machine works as sold, according to Liz Whitchurch, director of facilities operations at Cal Poly Humboldt, but emitted a heinous smell that sparked complaints from several residents of the nearby Cypress and surrounding dorms. The machine is located behind The J dining hall.
“We immediately shut it down when we started getting those complaints,” Whitchurch said. “And so, we’ve been searching with the vendor for a solution to that smell problem and we haven’t implemented anything yet, but we’re looking at different options.”
Once functional, the dehydrator will reduce the volume of biological waste by 90% over the course of its 24-hour cycle, according to Whitchurch.
“Every three days or so, we would extrude the output of the dehydrator,” Whitchurch said.
The machine is halfway between a dehydrator and a digester, according to Whitchurch.
Due to the powerful odor, the machine has not been able to stretch its wings yet and prove its usefulness. As soon as a solution to the dreadful smell is found, the machine will allow the university to generate its own compost with the food waste created on campus. That will then be used all across the campus grounds and replace the need to outsource fertilizer.
“We haven’t gotten to the stage, so I can’t confirm that it actually works as EcoRich has sold it to us,” Whitchurch said.
Currently, the university uses a shipping container that has been retrofitted to store food waste for about four weeks. The waste created at dining halls and housing, for those who’ve opted into an optional food waste program, is stored in the modified shipping container. The university currently pays Recology Humboldt County to transport the food waste to the Local Worm Guy, a local composter.
When the dehydrator’s stink is solved, the university’s ability to generate compost completely in-house will both save money and reduce campus pollution.
While the dehydrators’ dreadful scent is a problem, it is actually not the biggest issue with campus composting on campus. Compost contamination, according to student employees, is rampant across campus.
Jacob York, a recycling student assistant at the university, explained the compost contamination on campus is so pervasive, that nearly all of the green compost bins eventually end up in landfill.
“Well, besides the food waste that is created by the J and The Depot for example, which doesn’t generally have a substantial amount of contaminants, everything else in the green topped bins around campus, probably 90% of it has to be thrown out,” said York.
In fact, the constant contamination has resulted in the student assistants leaving behind the larger compost transfer bins all together when making their rounds on campus.
“We used to carry a compost bin around in the truck as well,” said Zack Baker, a recycling student assistant. “But like, we just don’t carry it around anymore, just because it’s all contaminated.”
California Assembly Bill 1383, which mandates a significant reduction in organic waste sent to landfills, became enforceable on Jan. 1 of this year. This requires campus food provider Chartwells Higher Ed to provide training to their staff, adequate signage, and uniform bins, according to Morgan King, lead climate analyst and Cal Poly Humboldt. Additionally, King highlighted that the university now has compost bins in departmental break rooms. Chartwells Higher Ed did not respond to an interview request.
In response to how the university could decrease its compost contamination rate across campus, CalRecycle highlighted education programs underway at other universities, like CSU Dominguez Hills and Sacramento State University. Importantly, Cal Poly Humboldt already has well-funded waste reduction outreach programs, such as Waste-Reduction & Resource Awareness Program (WRRAP.) Outreach programs like WRRAP educate and expand awareness about the basics of composting as well as engage the campus community at regular waste themed events throughout the semester.
While education, clear signage, and accessible compost bins locations improve the probability of proper composting, it ultimately depends on the care of individuals to sort their waste properly. King acknowledged that there is a lack of incentives and disincentives for proper waste sorting on campus, and that education can only help so much.
“The hard part is moving that awareness into action,” King said.
At the end of the day, Whitchurch explained, the university does not have the capacity to sort through every single compost bin. Sorting must be done by the individual.
“It’s a huge problem,” Whitchurch said. “We don’t have anyone whose job it is to sort through people’s food waste. That’s not a job description. It’s not what we do.”
Pseudonyms have been used in some cases to protect people’s identity.
Students, faculty, community members, and others sporting helmets, full-face coverings and goggles took control of Cal Poly Humboldt’s quad, Siemens and Nelson Halls, as well as the surrounding areas. Entrances to both Siemens Hall and the quad area were barricaded with tables, chairs, doors, benches, newsstands, office furniture, rope, tape, chains, dumpsters, and chain link fences. Tents lined the grass. Chalk, spray paint, and markers turned the ground and walls into message boards. This was Cal Poly Humboldt on Monday, April 30. What led to this historic pro-Palestine protest?
Friday, April 26 – Five consecutive days of Siemens Hall occupation
By Friday, the university had already announced its closure until May 10, citing building break-in attempts, vandalism, and theft. Select students, believed to be involved in the protest, received suspension notices without explanation of how they’d been identified. The university’s response to the protesters’ demands not only failed to fulfill any of them in a meaningful way, but added fuel to the fire of frustration. The campus quad became something resembling a commune, complete with a communal kitchen, medical tent, sporadic live music, janitorial and police scout sign-in sheets.
The university did not respond before this article’s publication when asked how suspended students were identified.
The protesters’ demands hinged primarily on 1) the university publicly calling for a ceasefire of the war between Palestine and Israel and 2) the university divesting from and cutting all ties with the state of Israel.
The university’s response to the demands disclosed details of its indirect investments in Israel companies or organizations that comprised less than 1% of its portfolio, while adding that the university is open to discussing investment policies in the future. The university did not call for a cease fire and instead stated its support for a “peaceful and just” world.
At 2 p.m. on Friday, the university began a ‘check-out’ procedure, with a deadline that had been extended from an initial 4 p.m. deadline to 5 p.m. The check-out was led by Chrissy Holliday, vice president for Enrollment Management & Student Success and Mitch Mitchell, vice-president of student success and dean of students, who set up folding tables by the library circle. According to Holliday, the university had come to believe that many students who wanted to leave Siemens Hall were hesitant for fear of arrest. The check out procedure with the administration leadership team would prevent immediate arrest, according to Holliday, though it did not protect them from future repercussions.
According to student Jackie Zeibert, who had been involved with the protest since day one, the check-out procedure was pointless, as any protester was free to leave at any time, without turning themselves in and facing guaranteed consequences.
“It really is an offer of nothing,” Zeibert said. “Anyone can leave anytime they want. This includes people inside Siemens Hall; anyone who wants to leave and simply walk off campus. So the offer is nothing—it is less than nothing.”
Moreover, Zeibert highlighted that the protest was peaceful, and took a turn only when the police brought violence.
“The original idea was to protest towards the genocidal campaign in Gaza,” Zeibert said. “Students would occupy Siemens Hall, they would be present there, they would engage in chants, and they would make their voices known. The decision to call the police was enacted almost immediately and violence by the police made us weary.”
It was only after police violence that the protesters resolved to construct barricades and take things to the next level.
Protesters perform a comedy act while a UPD vehicle plays a recorded message declaring an unlawful assembly, which was played around campus for five hours. Photo by Alex Anderson.
Siemens Hall Exhibition
Around 5 p.m. on Friday, April 26, protesters suddenly began moving both the (protester supplied) medical tent, as well as the mutual aid kitchen away from a centralized quad location in preparation to open up Siemens Hall.
At this point, University Provost Jenn Capps, Executive Director of Initiatives Connie Stewart, and Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Jeff Crane were in the quad.
“I’m a psychologist by training,” Capps said. “I’ve worked in prisons, jails, schools, and public health. I’ve worked in hospitals. I received victims from the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, I entered Columbine High school during the school shootings. I’ve been through some shit. This is up there — because I’m afraid, and I’m gonna prioritize student safety.”
Capps has been one of the university’s most prominent voices of the administration over the duration of the protest, even entering the building without police to negotiate with students during the first hours of the Siemens Hall occupation. In response, according to Capps, the students shouted and squirted her with water.
In a surprising turn of events, the protesters opened the doors to Siemens Hall just after 5 p.m. on Friday. Students, community members, faculty, administrators, and reporters began entering an unrecognizable Siemens Hall. The interior of Siemens Hall had been covered in messages of support for Palestine, as well as a significant amount of writing directly critiquing the university’s absent president, Tom Jackson Jr., whose office had been broken into by the occupiers. Despite rampant graffiti covering Jackson’s large office space, his personal belongings and files looked to be untouched by protesters. Upon entering Jackson’s office, Stewart was brought to tears. Not all university employees were sympathetic to Jackson, however. In fact, most everyone who entered his office relished the opportunity to finally access the president’s office, who has been consistently unreachable by those in the community he claims to lead.
Tony Silvaggio, sociology department chair, was among those most vocal about his excitement in entering the elusive president’s den.
“I’m the vice president of our faculty union [CFA] and we’ve never been in here for a lunch, or a, ‘hello,’ for four-plus years,” Silvaggio said. “He’s given us the cold shoulder like he’s given students right now. Our president has been absent from this campus. He doesn’t know his students, he doesn’t know [faculty].”
Silvaggio’s frustration toward the president was echoed by many others in the community, including a parent of a student suspended for their part in the Siemens Hall occupation.
“When you see this kind of leadership coming from the top levels, you start questioning the institutions,” parent Alec Bell said. “What the students are doing [during the protest] is tremendously less costly than the impact of his salary for incompetent leadership.”
On Thursday, April 25, the university senate voted ‘no confidence’ in President Jackson and his recently hired Chief of Staff Mark Johnson for their mishandling of the protest, which led to injuries of students and faculty.
The Weekend – disorganization and strain
As the protest hit its sixth day, the strain on the weary protesters began to show. Cohesion and direction began to falter amongst the protesters. During a Sunday meeting, after failing to agree on the ‘next move,’ the protesters agreed to take a vote on whether or not to vote – and even this vote was hotly contested. The difficulties stemmed from the root ideologies of most in the group, who preferred horizontal leadership instead of vertical. Propelling the issues were outside groups who had largely replaced the original organizers. According to Zeibert, around eight folks arrived over the weekend from Berkeley, who did not share the initial protesters’ creed of nonviolence.
“It could not be more clear that this is a non-violent movement,” Zeibert said. “It was like it was repeated to unanimous approval at multiple meetings.”
Zeibert said several of the new outside members were willing to escalate things towards violence, a step Zeibert was not willing to take.
“That was the main reason why I had to defend myself,” Zeibert said. “I could not be a part anymore, and I know many students have felt the same.”
UPD officer Joseph Conlin was on the receiving end of some of the new aggression added to the protest group. While responding to a call, Conlin entered into the protesters’ self-declared perimeter. Then, followed a 15-minute-long verbal confrontation by at least 30 protesters who blocked Conlin from exiting the protest zone.
“Having 30 people telling you to go home, wishing for your death when they don’t know me… it’s kind of interesting,” Conlin said. “Like, someone can have that much hate for somebody they have no idea who I am. When you start dehumanizing people, then you see who the agitators really are.”
The incident ended without violence or arrests.
The university also enacted a hard closure of campus on Saturday. A violation of which could lead to arrest, according to officials. Despite this, multiple Arcata police officers were not aware of the campus closure and said they were only “directing traffic.”
Protesters gathered in front of the barricade between Siemens and Nelson Halls while one speaks into a megaphone on April 29. Photo by Alex Anderson.
Monday, April 29th – The drums of war beat loud, the drums of peace beat louder
As the protest hit the one-week mark, rumors of a pending police response began to grow hour by hour. Protest scouts had caught wind of the potential for buses to be used by the university to transport hundreds of riot police to quell the protest. While spirits remained high among many protesters, there was a noticeable shift in morale. While Friday had seen the group talking of how to protest could extend through May 10, Monday afternoon saw talks of survival, of having an impactful ending. Whether the police were coming Monday night or Thursday night was unclear, but the group knew the end was near.
The California Faculty Association (CFA) organized a march and gathering on 14th Street, of which about 40 students, faculty, and community members attended on Monday afternoon. Despite the divide between the protest and the direction it had taken over the weekend, the CFA remained steadfast in their support for and protection of the students.
“Every protest throughout history has had naysayers frequently, people far away on the sidelines, nitpicking this tactic or that strategy we are faced with right now,” said Aaron Donaldson, a lecturer in the department of communications and CFA secretary. “It’s a nationwide confrontation of our individual complicity — wherever that may be — with an ongoing conflict that’s killed tens of thousands of people just since October.”
At 7 p.m. Monday evening, a Seder was held at the barricades at the entrance to library circle, which was placed by law enforcement and stood as a marker of the new boundary to the closed campus. Hundreds of supporters attended the Seder, which was followed by over an hour of pro-Palestine chanting. The Seder would mark the penultimate gathering of the protest group — the final being their stand against law enforcement.
Hundreds of Police Mobilize
Around 10 p.m., UPD began blaring a dispersal order at all of the fortified entrances to the protester controlled area. A recording of the voice of UPD Chief Peter Cress informed the protesters that failure to disperse the ‘unlawful assembly’ within 15 minutes may result in the use of rubber and plastic bullets, as well as chemical agents. The protest group, which numbered at least 300 at the time of the first warning, braced for impact. Cress’ message threatened protesters for over five hours without following through on its threats. By the time the hundreds of police officers dressed in riot gear descended, only a small fraction of the protest group remained. 32 protesters were eventually arrested without injury, according to officials. At least one university professor and one member of the press were among those detained.
The arrested professor, Rouhallah Aghasaleh, an assistant professor in the school of education emphasized days prior to their arrest that no matter the final result of the protest, the movement held great personal value to them.
“This is so beautiful,” Aghasaleh said. “I’ve just enjoyed being involved in this. I’m required to have publications, to write articles, to teach. If none of those existed, this alone is enough to exist on my CV.”
A detained protester lays face-down on the ground while Unified Command officers stand over them. Photo by Savana Robinson.
32 protesters arrested, including a member of the press and a university professor
By Brad Butterfield
Update: as of 8 p.m. April 30, Cal Poly Humboldt says 32 people have been arrested.
Some names have been changed to protect identities.
After a week-long pro-Palestine protest at Cal Poly Humboldt, multiple law enforcement agencies descended onto campus grounds on Monday around 10:00 p.m. An audio message blared through a sound system strapped atop a University Police Department vehicle threatening use of plastic, rubber bullets, and chemical agents on protesters for over five hours. Eventually, around 3:30 a.m., hundreds of police officers dressed in full riot gear swarmed campus, arresting over 30 protesters, including students and at least one Cal Poly Humboldt professor.
On Monday evening, April 22, protesters took control of the quad area, Siemens Hall, and Nelson Hall. Over the course of a week, entrance points to the quad had been fortified with dumpsters, chairs, doors, office furniture, tape, rope, and chain. Tents filled the grassy areas surrounding Siemens and Nelson Halls. Chalk, markers, and spray paint covered both pavement and wall surface-areas with messages making the protesters’ conviction and commitment to their cause clear: “Free Gaza,” “Stop Funding Genocide,” “Silence is violence.” were among the messages written by protesters.
Despite a coordinated police response surveillance system set by the protesters, the exact time the police would arrive, remained unclear. The inevitable police response finally arrived around 10 p.m. on Monday, with a University Police Department vehicle threatening protesters with rubber, plastic bullets and chemical agents should they refuse to disperse from campus grounds.
The Chief of the University Police Department Peter Cress’ voice rang periodically throughout the protest grounds for over five hours as hundreds of protesters braced for impact, wearing bike helmets, goggles, and masks. Spirits remained high among the protesters through the night and early morning, with a protest ‘medic’ handing out cigarettes as well as snacks and beverages. Other protesters used the high beams of the UPD police vehicle to perform circus-like performances for the officers.
Still, memories of last Monday’s violent police response to protesters were fresh in some minds. Nerves were high amongst the group of protesters.
“I’m scared. I don’t want to get tear gassed. I don’t want to get hit with rubber bullets. I just think I it’s cowardice on the part of the university,” said student Jacob Fullen.
For some, the consequences of an arrest could not be overstated.
“I’m probably one of the most vulnerable. I’m not an American citizen. My arrest might result in me losing my job. My arrest might result in me being deported. So the consequences are unimaginable,” Rouhallah Aghasaleh, an assistant professor in the school of education at Cal Poly Humboldt said.
Aghasaleh could be seen calmly praying as threats of kinetic projectiles and chemical agents echoed throughout the quad. The typically calm campus grounds of higher were now a dystopian scene that would inevitably be branded into Cal Poly Humboldt’s history.
“I don’t personally care about Siemens hall or about Tom Jackson. I care about Palestine,” student Cindy Alcon said. “My people are here, and I’m gonna be here and stand by them whether or not I agree with what they’re doing, because this is my community, and I love them and I think that that’s what matters right now.”
Cress’ announcement continued until 3:00 a.m., failing for 5 hours to follow through on the promise of rubber, plastic bullets and chemical agents. By this time, the protest group, which stood hundreds strong at 10 p.m., had dwindled to less than 50 visually present.
At 3:01 a.m. the university released a shelter in place order due to “continued criminal activity.”
Then came the cavalry. Hundreds of police officers dressed in full riot gear methodically arrested, removed, and angered the protesters. At least one member of the press and Cal Poly Humboldt professor Dr. Aghasaleh, were among the (about) 35 arrested by the police who were brought in on “Humboldt State University” buses.
Aghasaleh released this statement upon his arrest:
“In defiance of our wrongful arrest, I have chosen to reject any bond and embark on a hunger strike. I refuse to accept the label of criminal for standing up for an ethical reason. Our arrest on a stolen land and in a place that we consider home is an act of violence.
Until all of my students and I are released and justice is served, I will endure this hunger strike as a testament to the strength of my convictions and unwavering commitment to truth and justice.”
At 6:57 a.m. on Tuesday, the University released an email stating that law enforcement had restored order at Cal Poly Humboldt.
“Law enforcement cleared and secured Siemens Hall and Nelson Hall East, as well as the area near those buildings. About 35 individuals were arrested, without incident. There were no injuries,” read a Humboldt Alert.
As hundreds of police officers forced protesters off campus grounds, pro-Palestine protesters continued chanting en masse.
“Free Gaza,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Resolute hope mixed with a tinge of fear and anxiety have been the dominant emotions today on Humboldt’s campus after officials sent an email saying protestors participating in the ongoing Siemens Hall occupation should leave before 5 p.m. to avoid being arrested.
Though only a few people have been arrested, many more than that have received interim suspensions today.
Administration set up a “check out” booth next to the library circle, where activists who got a suspension could make a case that they didn’t deserve one and attempt to get it wiped.
According to Dean of Students Mitch Mitchell, the decision was made by an emergency operation committee with over 30 people on the board. They thought it was the best way for students to vacate without being physically harmed. Mitchell believed it was highly likely that many people would take the opportunity to leave.
“This is not a person’s normal dwelling,” Mitchell said. “Students walk out, same way they walked in.”
Most of the activists are staying, and won’t leave until the university meets their demands. Many of them say it’s worth getting arrested.
“A lot of us have known that the university has problems caring about students,” one protestor who asked to remain anonymous said. “This just confirmed what I suspected.”
Another protestor, who gave the pseudonym “Rosie”, thought the check out booth and insinuation that everyone else who didn’t use it could be arrested was an unnecessary scare tactic. To leave, Rosie said the CSU would have to commit to a system-wide divestment policy to stop investing in Israeli interests, a statement a lot of protestors echoed.
“If we stay here long enough, we can get the CSU to divest,” said one speaker in the UC quad with a megaphone. “We can be a thorn in the side of Genocide Joe [Biden] as long as it takes.”
Although the vast majority of protestors have decided to stay, at least one who asked to go by “Tord” left because of the threat of violence. Tord had been staying on campus since Monday, and could not condone the possibility of physical harm coming from either law enforcement or protestors.
“I’m leaving for my own safety,” Tord said. “I want to be 100% peaceful and I won’t associate with violence. I just wanted community.”
Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal showed up to campus at around 4 p.m. to try and work with activists to devise a plan to get everyone to leave campus. He also said the sheriff’s office had no plans to breach the barricades and enter the occupied portion of campus, but only if the police and protestors could come to some agreements.
“The last thing we want is violence,” Honsal said. “If we continue down this road, that [could] happen.”
The occupation continues to disrupt campus life as in-person classes have been shut down for the rest of the semester. Many of the activists have little sympathy for students who are mad at the developments. One alumni said the protests are “land-based learning.”
“If our demands are not met and if all we’ve done is show hope, I am happy,” one speaker said. “To those who have said this was a waste of time, or unproductive, or just a lot of needless destruction of property, I say we inspired hope.”
Dean Mitchell doesn’t agree.
“I think there’s been a lot of light shed on the situation [the war in Palestine],” Mitchell said. “My focus is the student body. What about the other students? There is no access to the cultural centers or study halls. How are we showing support for all of our campus? How do we restore our campus? I believe in disruption, not destruction. Don’t take it [destruction] home.”
Protesters have been moved to Nelson Hall while university officials currently survey the damage in Siemens Hall.
“For protestors who have continued to participate in the occupation of Siemens Hall and Nelson Hall, or are violating the Time, Place, Manner policy (such as camping illegally around those facilities), we are offering a one-time checkout process Friday, April 26, from 2 pm to 4 pm that will allow you to vacate the premises without fear of immediate arrest,” reads an email sent by Cal Poly Humboldt to students and faculty on April 26 at 1:50 p.m.
This comes after an email from the university responding to protesters demands this morning at 10:30 a.m. The university responded to each of the demands made by protestors in the email, but with minimal information.
“University policy and conduct violations will follow established procedures, and there will be consequences for actions that violate policy or law. However, students who elect to evacuate the building and support efforts to clear the building will have their actions considered as a mitigating factor within those processes,” was the response to the demand of dropping charges against and halting the harassment of student organizers by law enforcement.
Now, the school is offering an opt-out of the ongoing protest. Many student protesters remain within the walls of Siemens Hall and they continue to have the solidarity of protesters outside.
The University’s messages included a warning that though protesters will not be immediately arrested, this does not prevent future consequences.
“This in no way eliminates responsibility for any potential student conduct or criminal charges, but it does provide a safe and calm process for exiting campus. Voluntary participation in this check-out process WILL be considered as a mitigating factor in University conduct processes and may reduce the severity of sanctions imposed,” the email reads.
Another email regarding the offer sent at 2:05 p.m. included that this information had been shared with student protesters inside Siemens Hall earlier in the day.
“For protestors who have continued to participate in the occupation of Siemens Hall and Nelson Hall, or are violating the Time, Place, Manner policy (such as camping illegally around those facilities), we are offering a one-time checkout process Friday, April 26, from 2 pm to 4 pm that will allow you to vacate the premises without fear of immediate arrest,” reads an email sent by Cal Poly Humboldt to students and faculty on April 26 at 1:50 p.m.
This comes after an email from the university responding to protesters demands this morning at 10:30 a.m. The university responded to each of the demands made by protestors in the email, but with minimal information.
“University policy and conduct violations will follow established procedures, and there will be consequences for actions that violate policy or law. However, students who elect to evacuate the building and support efforts to clear the building will have their actions considered as a mitigating factor within those processes,” was the response to the demand of dropping charges against and halting the harassment of student organizers by law enforcement.
Now, the school is offering an opt-out of the ongoing protest. Many student protesters remain within the walls of Siemens Hall and they continue to have the solidarity of protesters outside.
The University’s messages included a warning that though protesters will not be immediately arrested, this does not prevent future consequences.
“This in no way eliminates responsibility for any potential student conduct or criminal charges, but it does provide a safe and calm process for exiting campus. Voluntary participation in this check-out process WILL be considered as a mitigating factor in University conduct processes and may reduce the severity of sanctions imposed,” the email reads.
Another email regarding the offer sent at 2:05 p.m. included that this information had been shared with student protesters inside Siemens Hall earlier in the day.
UPDATE FROM CAL POLY HUMBOLDT AT 4:40 PM: “The offer for protesters in the buildings to leave with a guarantee of no immediate arrest has been extended to 5 p.m.”
University president Tom Jackson and his Chief of Staff Mark Johnson aren’t fit to lead Humboldt, according to both the Humboldt CFA and 174 Humboldt faculty.
The executive board of the Humboldt chapter of the California Faculty Association passed a vote of no confidence today in Jackson’s leadership. The vote comes after Jackson’s handling of the student pro-Palestine protests this week.
According to the faculty resolution, Jackson and Johnson were responsible for calling the police to campus, a move which led to police hitting several students with batons and three people being arrested.
In addition to the CFA’s vote, a university faculty meeting held on Zoom today also ended with a resolution calling for Jackson and Johnson’s resignations. Although the vote isn’t completely verified due to uncertainty about proxy votes, it was 174-10.
The resolution does not force them to resign.
“[Tom Jackson and Mark Johnson], through their unfamiliarity with the Cal Poly student body, mishandled the protest by calling those law enforcement agencies to attempt to extract protestors from Siemens Hall, which led to the injury of students and faculty of Cal Poly Humboldt,” the resolution reads.
Faculty were divided on whether to include University Provost Jen Capps. Professor Nicola Walters thought she should be included, but the resolution went unamended so it could be passed as quickly as possible.
“[We’re doing this] so we can tell our students we’re doing something to protect their safety,” said James Woglom, who lead the meeting. “I will pass whatever resolution you want, as long as we get those kids out of there safely.”
Many of the faculty believe Jackson is doing a bad job leading the university through this moment, if he’s leading them at all.
“We’re rudderless,” sociology professor Josh Meisel said. “There’s a complete lack of leadership.”
Alice Finen, an elementary school teacher and artist in the Humboldt community, was charged with trespassing and obstructing and resisting a public officer during the April 22 protest.
Finen joined Humboldt student activists outside of Siemens Hall after hearing about students needing support. She said she was concerned for their safety.
“I was trying to do whatever I could to stop them from hurting the students,” Finen said. “It was just instinct for me to not move, and tell the cops that they were hurting me and that I couldn’t move. They continued to push onto me and use their baton to push into me, pushing my neck and my chest.”
Finen does not recall exactly what happened, but suddenly she was on the ground with zip ties around her wrists. Finen is an alum of the university, and is disturbed by the reaction from the school.
“It’s unbelievable,” Finen said. “I graduated from Humboldt in the early 2000s. It makes me sick that the students were treated that way on their own campus and that I was arrested for trespassing on my alma mater.”
Police records show that Finen was the only person to be booked during the protests, but she recalls seeing other students being detained as well. Finen hopes that her arrest inspires students to continue their activism and show their support for the things they care about.
“I just want people to speak up and use their voice and to really think about what’s been happening to the Palestinians for so long,” Finen said. “This whole settler colonialism has to end. I would love for people to be inspired to speak up and speak out; to support student activism, because these people are putting themselves on the line.”
Dozens of students barricaded themselves in Siemens Hall and hundreds more swarmed the UC quad to protest the war in Gaza and to demand Humboldt stop associating with Israeli organizations.
At least one person, local teacher Alice Rose Finen, was arrested by the University Police Department. She was released on Monday night.
The protest started at around 5 p.m. on April 22, when a few protestors showed up to Siemens Hall. They piled chairs and tables up in front of entrances. The five classes being taught in Siemens were evacuated. Police arrived soon after, as did a California Highway Patrol helicopter.
As of publication, the protest is still ongoing. Dozens of students occupy Siemens, and doors have mounds of office furniture blocking them. Though there’s no consensus, they plan on staying until their demands are met or they are forcibly removed. Several occupiers broke into university president Tom Jackson’s office by shattering the window on the door. Siemens Hall is covered in graffiti, as is the outside of the Van Duzer theatre. The American and Californian flags were taken off of the flagpole in front of the library by a man with climbing gear.
For hours, student activists inside Siemens Hall were only a few feet away from the police on the other side of the main entrance on the second floor. Cops showed up from all over Humboldt, including the California Highway Patrol, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, and even some officers from as far away as Rio Dell. At one point, police scanner traffic indicated riot control police from Redding were coming to campus, but they never showed up.
Police left at 11 p.m. on April 22, and those inside tore the barricades down. Over 100 students entered the top floor, walked to the end of the hallway, turned around, and left. After that, the protest dwindled to less than 100 people, most of them outside. People played music and barbecued.
The occupation had been generally peaceful, but violence broke out at around 7 p.m. when police tore down the barricade and entered Siemens Hall. A line of law enforcement with riot shields and a crowd of activists crushed together, and a protester inside hit an officer with an empty water jug. At least one officer retaliated by bludgeoning a protester with a baton. Other reports of students being batoned are circulating, but unconfirmed.
The main demands of the protestors are: to end the war in Palestine, for the university to disclose any dealings with Israeli companies or the Israeli government (and end those relationships if they exist), cut all ties with Israeli universities, and for the university to end prosecution of student activists. Many of the same demands student activists all over the nation are demanding at universities such as Columbia and UC Berkeley.
“We’re doing this out of principle and righteous rage for our comrades,” said Casey, one of the protestors who was inside the building before the police left. “We want to make this happen at other universities across the nation.”
Another one of the protestors, who asked to be identified as “Bum,” was one of the first to blockade inside the hall. They decided they would join their friends the day before the protest was planned.
“When the homies started talking, I was like, ‘Yeah, dog,’” Bum said. “It’s time to fight genocide in general. It’s time to stand up with our Indigenous homies. [We’re occupying the building because] trying to dialogue with the oppressors doesn’t work well.”
Cal Poly Humboldt has not responded to a request for comment on its ties to Israeli institutions.
Some of the people at the protest weren’t there to demonstrate. Students thronged the balconies of the Student Activities Center and crowded around the main cluster of activists in front of Siemens Hall to watch the action, many of them on their way home from class. The helicopter hovering overhead attracted many sightseers.
“Nothing ever happens in Arcata,” said Shawn Rogan, a curious student. “It’s novel for a small campus, and [the war in Gaza] is a cause worth protesting.”
One of the biggest concerns the protestors had was the heavy police presence. Before they left, those barricaded inside the building said they would negotiate once the police were gone. One protester blockaded inside who asked that he only be identified as “Joe” said he would stay there until he was fought off by law enforcement.
“I’m going to resist,” Joe said. “If they beat me, they beat me.”
Protestors chanted anti-police slogans at law enforcement to try to get them to leave, and many of them tried to talk some officers into leaving. Communications professor Aaron Donaldson argued with Rio Dell’s Chief of Police Greg Allen and two other officers outside of Siemens Hall for over half an hour. Donaldson attempted to make the case that they could decide to leave. Allen disagreed.
Cal Poly Humboldt has made it clear they want protestors to leave Siemens Hall and to return home. As of April 23, graduation is still planned to happen on May 11.
“The University supports free speech through open dialogue that is respectful and constructive, but will not tolerate endangering people, destroying property, and disrupting campus,” read an alert published on April 23. “As a community, we are committed to keeping our students, staff, and faculty safe and fostering a learning and working environment where the campus community can feel safe, included, and respected.”
Cal Poly Humboldt students, faculty, and community members joined a virtual University Senate meeting on Tuesday, April 23.
“There is considerable interest in engaging with the open forum today. More than is likely to be possible, given due to time constraints,” meeting leader James Woglom said. “Given that, we’re going to prioritize guests. If you are a senator and we are unable to get to you today, I do apologize.”
Woglom then continued to introduce senators present in the meeting that evening, including Provost Jenn Capps and Chief of Staff, Mark Johnson, who would be present on behalf of the university president, Tom Jackson.
Senator and graduate coordinator of the sociology department Mary Virnoche proposed the upcoming agenda be edited. Virnoche proposed a discussion item to be inserted into the agenda to receive an update on the campus response to the current protestors occupying Siemens Hall. No senate members objected.
Woglom began the discussion by citing their own experience observing the protest last night. They mentioned speaking with other individuals earlier in the day to discuss how they can make progress to meet the needs and demands of those occupying Siemens Hall.
Woglom then called for any member of the campus faculty or community to share any up-to-date information they may have regarding the current occupation. Each speaker was allocated a three-minute time limit.
“I had a meeting with [Chrissy Holliday] right before this and it seems the current concern is that there [are] confidential documents in Siemens Hall,” Parker said. “So far, no one has made an attempt to reach those. If that continues, it sounds like they’ll be fairly hands off.”
The open forum discussing the current state of the Siemen Hall occupation continued with Jamela Hashim, a social work student who was currently joining from a smartphone with other senate meeting attendees, Gabi Kirk of the geology department, and Janet Winston of the English department. All mentioned they were currently outside of Siemens Hall.
Hashim urged meeting attendees that it was vital to address that internet services have been cut off within Siemens Hall so nobody inside would be able to comment.
“That seems like a bias that should be addressed in some way,” Hashim said.
Wolgom acknowledged the statement and encouraged protestors inside of the hall should text outside sources information they would like to be relayed during the meeting.
The proposed discussion by Virnoche lasted until about 4:12 p.m., until it was cut off to discuss the UPRC budget, CR/NC deadline, and Faculty Awards.
As the discussion unfolded many faculty, students, and community members spoke up about supporting the student protestors’ requested demands and urging for a ceasefire.
“Here at Cal Poly Humboldt, we pride ourselves on being student-centered and guiding our students’ academic journeys towards careers that will usher in a brighter and more empathetic world grounded in values of justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Kelly Fortner, Community-based learning faculty. “If we want to hold true to those values, as a university and campus community, we need to meet the demands of our students and make a stand against genocide.”
On the frontlines of the sit-in, Kirk and Winston used their three-minute speech slots to read a three-page letter collectively written by faculty deploring the University administration for the use of police force, and standing in solidarity with student protestors. As of now, the letter has 164 signatures from staff, students, and community members.
“We call on Cal Poly Humboldt to reflect on the real harm this crackdown on free speech inflicts,” the letter states. “And the message it sends to current and future students, their parents, faculty, and staff, and our communities within and beyond Humboldt”
Following that, Chief of Staff Mark Johnson made a statement on behalf of the university and President Tom Jackson. Johnson encouraged meeting attendees to share possible ways they can move forward from the current events of possibly 40 to 60 protestors currently occupying Siemen Hall.
Johnson explained that the students inside Siemens Hall were offered on several occasions to exit the building and protest in the quad or somewhere else suitable for them. He then explains that their denial to do so then equates to trespassing on public property.
“They refused that offer and insisted on occupying and effectively shutting down the nerve center of the campus,” Johnson said. “I think all of you understand what happened yesterday as we went through actions to try to remove those protestors who were effectively trespassing in the building.”
Johnson also commented that the police force was removed after the realization it was inflaming the situation rather than aiding it. Johnson mentions there are planning efforts moving forward to communicate with the protestors inside the building and provide a more peaceful and secure environment to the other students on campus. Johnson then opened the floor for constructive criticism on how to move forward with current events after reiterating that the police force involved was once again a result of the students refusing to protest in a content-neutral way.
“The president’s administrative team and President Jackson are making operational decisions based on real-time information about what is happening around voting and on campus,” Johnson said.
California Faculty Association (CFA) president Marisol Ruiz laid out recommendations for moving forward on behalf of the CFA. Her requests included not prosecuting anyone involved, showing support for students’ organized efforts for Gaza, and rejecting the use of force and policing. Ruiz also called for a statement from Tom Jackson and Jenn Capps.
“The lesson should not be in the sacrifices that have to be made for advocacy but about the possibilities we find there for solutions,” Ruiz said.
Geology professor Jim Graham followed Ruiz’s statement with a request for possible outside sourcing of an arbitrator to speak to the current protestors. Graham also reflected on the student sit-in in 2015 in regards to Native American Studies professor, Jacquelyn Bowman’s termination. Giving student protestors credit for their organizational abilities and dedication during that event.
Another attendee, Katie Koscielak the sustainability analyst at Cal Poly Humboldt then questioned if any of the student protestors’ demands were being met. A list of the demands had been circulating around social media.
Woglom spoke before Johnson stating that they are currently working with the students to make their demands more concise. Woglom and Johnson mentioned specifying the investments within the demands of the university can make them more achievable.
“The investments at the system level, at the state level, are not under our control in any way shape, or form,” Johnson said. “We do have some investments as part of the endowment and to add to James’ point we are looking into those investments, those portfolios to make certain that we understand what if, if any, percentage of those investments are already in better, broad terms, defense contractors.”
Johnson continued to state that President Jackson would not be making any statements in support of or against any political opinions or subjects.
“With regard to having a war or causing a ceasefire, causing the United States to divest in broader terms, those are things really outside of the control of anybody here on campus, and therefore are not actionable or realistic for the university to consider as demands to be met,” Johnson said.
After Johnson’s final comment, concerned community members shared their thoughts on the University’s handling of the student protestors. Concerns were made surrounding words used to villainize the protestors, hygiene following campus closures, and the overall prioritization of property safety over people.
One community member Genevieve Ameduri shared a strong message of disdain of the university’s call for policing the student protestors. Ameduri explained that she and her husband have recently moved to Arcata and adopted three Palestinian children who are hopeful to attend Cal Poly Humboldt in the future. She explains seeing a student hit over the head by police in riot gear in the first fifteen minutes of attending the protest was extremely upsetting and made her question the University’s priorities.
“Our children have the decency and the heart to stand up and we put them in violent outcomes, it’s unacceptable,” Ameduri said. “I am ashamed of all of you who have not spoken up and stood with them.”
Due to potential ramifications, some individuals interviewed for this article are only identified with pseudonyms.
By the afternoon of April 23, President Tom Jackson’s personal porcelain throne was up for free use by the pro-Palestine protesters occupying Siemens Hall after a broken window allowed occupants access to the presidential suite.
After the police had withdrawn from the entrances of Siemens Hall around 11 p.m. on April 22, the protestors opened the doors and barricades to embrace their compatriots outside. Once the students committed to staying the night, they got to work building barricades around the building entrances. Despite the action not being organized by a specific individual or organization within 24 hours, protesters such as Naomi Chambers felt compelled to act in support of Palestine.
“[This action] was loosely organized,” Chambers said. “This has been six months of boiling rage. [This action is run by] like-minded youth that want to see Palestine liberated.”
With law enforcement gone, the protestors got to work around Siemens hall to secure themselves inside out of fear of another clash with police. Protestors sealed the doors with chains, locks, and fire hoses. The occupants then gathered chairs and desks throughout the building and barricaded each of the entrances. Doors were removed from hinges and bulletin boards from walls to be recruited into the barricades. The staircases leading to the second floor of the hall was barricaded as well.
What was meant to be a sit-in protest had turned into a full-on occupation of Siemens hall following the clash between protestors inside the hall and the multi-departmental police force including agencies from Arcata, Eureka, Ferndale, Fortuna, California Highway Patrol, and Cal Fire. Students who clashed with the police, such as Friend UU, felt frustrated about the police’s action during a prayer circle led by an indigenous student. According to UU, it was officers in tan uniforms at the front lines against the protesters in Siemens Hall.
“We were just chanting and [law enforcement] weren’t doing anything,” UU said. “But then, the second Indigenous students [began to pray], that was the moment they started pushing. I mean, how evil is that?”
Meanwhile, protestors outside of Siemens Hall erected barricades at the entrances. Some also slept or stood guard outside of the hall, behind the outdoor barricades.
Jasmine Jolly, a child development and family relations major, was one of the student protesters outside.
“I’m really showing up as support,” Jolly said. “I have been trying my best to hold it down outside so that people inside know they are supported and that they have allies backing them up, and if necessary, blocking the entrances.”
Jolly was at the protest from 8:30 p.m. on April 22 to 3:00 p.m. April 23. They carried a black megaphone that amplified their voice for the crowd.
“I was leading some chants last night, but I was not the only one by a longshot,” Jolly said. “It was very organic. When someone’s voice started to give in, another person’s voice would take over. It was like a community.”
According to Jolly, the community came together to ensure the safety of protestors. There was not a single leader, but rather a collection of voices.
“This is a group of people really working together to try to get voices heard,” Jolly said. “This was a community showing up in support of those inside, and even people inside, there’s not a ‘single’ leadership.”
After the building was secured, the occupiers settled in. Supporters outside of the building found ways to smuggle supplies such as food, water, medicine, hygiene products, and blankets into the building.
Students slept where they could. The occupants set up a sleeping area by the elevator, and a few students were able to erect tents in the hallways outside of the provost’s office. Some students chose to lay out sleeping bags in the hallway, while others found rest on the floors of empty classrooms left open.
The protesters began to create posters to hang on the windows as well as scrawled messages on the hallways throughout the building. One poster was created using bloodied bandages from an injured protestor. Messages in support of Gaza as well as condemning the police’s actions were scrawled on hallways, done with marker or spray paint. One protestor, Casey O’Connor, drew a mural depicting police striking their friend who was also protesting.
“I felt the need to convey what happened in a visual medium,” O’Connor said. “So that admin can not ignore the fact that students were bloodied in this building.”
By the end of Siemens Hall rearrangement, the building felt surreal and almost out of a war zone. Doors were boarded up and students were camping underneath their written messages surrounded by supplies.
The first night was spent resting, taking shifts watching the barricades for other potential law enforcement action, and strategizing next moves. There was a mix of emotions amongst the group such as anxiety, uncertainty, and exhaustion. However, the more prevailing emotions were a sense of pride and community. The protestors knew the odds may not be perfect, but they were emboldened by law enforcement withdrawing.
“I feel exhilarated,” Chambers said. “Everything in this world tells us [resistance] is impossible.”
As the sun rose after the first night, some activists took more drastic measures to get a point across to campus leadership. At some point in the afternoon on April 23, an unknown individual gained access to Tom Jackson’s presidential suite through a door window and protesters entered the suite.
Jackson’s suite had files looked through, wine taken, his desk left a mess, and as with the hallways, messages were written on the walls. Some of them noted the disgust they felt in their writings.
“DO YOU CARE?” One message wrote. “Seeing this office made me sick. Students, Palestinians, so many people are in pain and struggling, while you have an empty office full of amenities. DO BETTER.”
The protestors have vowed to remain occupying Siemens Hall until demands have been met. Despite the chaotic and stressful possibilities with this protest, the occupants are hopeful that the situation will be peaceful with its ending.
“I was expecting to get arrested.” Chambers said. “I was prepared for everything to go wrong, but I was also prepared for everything to go right for us. I’m determined to hold onto that [hope].”
On April 15, 2017, David Josiah Lawson, an HSU sophomore, community leader, and member of the Black community, was killed at a house party in Arcata. He was sprayed with bear mace and then fatally stabbed six times after he was falsely accused of stealing someone’s cell phone.
On the seventh anniversary of Josiah’s passing, members of the Arcata community gathered in the square to honor his time on earth with a candlelight vigil and call for justice to be served.
Sarai Bordeaux, community member and former Humboldt State University student, spoke about the lack of justice surrounding Josiah’s case. She was heartbroken to hear that nothing was being done to bring Josiah’s attacker to justice.
“The fact that people knew who did it, knew who was involved, and very much could have done something, but didn’t, has stuck with me throughout my entire context in moving back to Humboldt,” Bordeaux said. “I’m a substitute teacher, and I work in the community, and to hear that there’s an event to celebrate Josiah’s life in the midst of a space that has done nothing to get justice for him just made me really want to come out.”
For Bordeaux, the vigil served as a firm reminder that the Arcata community hasn’t forgotten about what happened to Josiah, and that the strength, persistence, and power of the community as a whole has the power to make positive change and make Arcata a safer place for people of color. As much as she loves the tight-knit community of Arcata, Bordeaux knows that it can be a bit intimidating and unwelcoming to marginalized communities coming here for the first time, especially when it comes to getting housing, jobs, and meeting locals.
“As much as I love coming out here, and as much as I need to come out here and see the community and know that we’re all still grieving, as much as I want space to be held for us, I am tired of holding it in trauma. the vigils that we hold are a visible display of our trauma,” Bordeaux said. “[The vigils] are important because people need to know that this is what we’re still dealing with here. We have to keep holding vigils because our folks keep getting murdered. We have to keep coming out to honor the lives of those that we have lost.”
Marlon Jones II, a community leader, activist, and organizer of the vigil, shared Bordeaux’s desires to create a safer and more accessible Arcata for people of color. He acknowledged the hard work and dedication of places like El Centro and the Umoja Center, but he expressed the fact that many black and brown students still feel unsafe outside of these environments.
“Through the vigils, I’ve met so many amazing people who all have this common goal of just making this place safer for Black and brown people, and providing these spaces where we can just exist,” Jones said. “Places where we can be ourselves and not feel threatened by this white supremacist, patriarchal society that tells us that we have to conform to certain spaces, or that we don’t belong in them at all.”
Jones believes that Josiah’s vigil will continue to impact the community and motivate people to take action and seek justice, even when it may not be easy.
“It’s important to remember how to remain hopeful in a place that surrounds you with hopelessness,” Jones said. “It’s important to be the answer to the question … to understand that we the people, as a community, are the solution to this. We have to understand how powerful we are.”
A major source of hope for the Justice for Josiah Committee and all of its supporters is Charmaine Lawson, Josiah’s mother. After Josiah’s passing, Jones was introduced to Charmaine. She immediately took him under her wing and showed him unconditional love and support. While she wasn’t able to attend the vigil this year, she has attended every year in the past, and even often comes on a regular basis, making the long trip up to Humboldt from Southern California to honor her son’s life and continue to spread love in Arcata.
“[Charmaine] does so many things for the Arcata community, despite the lack of justice,” Jones said. “She does so many things out of love and gratitude because that’s just who she is. That’s who her son is, even though he’s no longer with us physically. This young man was on the path to changing the world positively, and he was taken from us, through that avenue. There’s been so much love and support behind getting that justice, behind putting those minute steps into action, going to the courthouses, calling the [District Attorneys], and making sure that they know that this is important. Not just to Arcata, but to California, and to anybody that has had to deal with a missing or murdered person.”
Charmaine Lawson’s goal since her son’s passing has been to continue to uplift the Cal Poly Humboldt and Arcata community. Her passion and positivity inspired countless others to follow in her footsteps, including Romi Hitchcock Tinseth, a community leader and organizer of the vigil. When Tinseth heard about Josiah’s murder, she immediately knew that she had a responsibility as a mother to take action and help the cause in any way that she could.
“It’s no wonder that DJ [David Josiah] was a spectacular human being, because his mother is a spectacularhuman being,” Tinseth said. “She has devoted her energy to carrying on the love that DJ gave, that is a product of her love. So she comes here, she does good in this community, she does the work that DJ would be doing, and she has come often every single month on the 15th, for years now. And it has been seven years. This is the first anniversary of DJ’s death that she was not here, because she chose to surround herself with her family in Southern California and celebrate DJ’s life that way.”
Seven years after his passing, Josiah’s positive impact on the community is still being felt in many different ways, giving Tinseth and many others an outlet for creating a better Arcata and a better world.
“[He was] an incredible student at Humboldt State University, a leader, a person who was dedicated to changing people’s lives for the better, and fighting for justice in the world,” Tinseth said. “In fact, he was a criminology and justice studies major. He was President of Brothers United at Humboldt State, and just an amazing, good human being.”
Michihiro Sugata, Cal Poly Humboldt Criminology & Justice Studies Program Coordinator, Associate Professor of Sociology, and former teacher of Josiah’s, spoke about who Josiah was as a student and a man. According to him, Josiah had a contagious smile that brought people in and kept them engaged. Josiah brought so much light and energy to his class, and his positivity was infectious. He loved to learn new things and take on new challenges, and he wasn’t afraid to discuss difficult topics.
“Losing Josiah was like watching hope die,” Sugata said. “I’ve never articulated it this way before, but Josiah was the type of student that [educators] put our hope in. He was the type of student that makes you believe that the challenges of this world can be met and overcome — he instilled hope in all of us and to lose that was just devastating. But I know he wasn’t the only one, and to see young people showing up to the vigil, to see young people painting murals and writing poetry about Josiah, that brings back the hope.”
The vigil was ultimately a celebration of Josiah Lawson’s life, a life that was taken far too soon. But it was also a sobering reminder that justice has still not been served.
“These vigils remain important for many reasons,” Sugata said. “They keep us connected to one another, and keep us connected to the broader fight for injustices in our community and beyond. Just as important, the vigil serves as a symbol for the continued struggle for racial justice within this community and this country. For those of us who knew Josiah, gathering in community and fighting for just causes isn’t just an act of remembrance. It’s a way to honor the man he was and the life he lived. These are the things he embodied.”
The art and film department at Cal Poly Humboldt are facing budget reduction cuts due to the university’s low enrollment number and lack of funding from the state. Programs under the department of art have been reported receiving less than their promised budget for their programs. In turn, the lack of funding will begin to impact students’ education.
The original 2023-24 budget was planned expecting 7,749 students to bring over $1,086,864. Only $786,000 was collected from 5,858 students this fall. This budget was approved by the previous A.S board and signed by President Tom Jackson on May 16.
Award winning documentary and narrative filmmaker Dave Jannetta teaches film production at Cal Poly Humboldt and is part of the University Resources and Planning Committee (URPC). The URPC is a standing committee of the university senate and is defined by the Senate Bylaws and Rules of Procedure.
“I am part of URPC, and we are currently looking at various scenarios for necessary budget cuts across the university,” Jannetta said. “But nothing is official yet.”
The Cal State System is anticipating more university-wide budget cuts as it faces expected cuts in state aid due to the state’s budget deficit for the 2024-25 budget year.
The budget cuts to the arts programs will have repercussions for students. Cal Poly Humboldt sculpture professor Sondra Schwetman shares concerns for the quality of students’ education.
“We will not be able to offer the sculpture curriculum as we have been for years,” Schwetman said. “We won’t even be able to purchase gasses for welding — I don’t know what we are going to do. ”
The sculpture department recently received a new furnace and kiln for their workspace. They are worried about it being operational in the future.
“I won’t be able to run the foundry,” Schwetman said. “The foundry has always been a signature program. We are one of a few CSUs that have one. Our program quality will go down – we will lose students – bottom line.”
Along with the budget cuts hitting the arts programs, historic art buildings on campus are planned to be torn down. The Laundry, also known as the ceramics lab, is a space for students enrolled in ceramics classes to dedicate time to their artistry. The space is scattered full of sculptures, murals, and memories. The ceramics studio will be moved to the old technology building, Jenkins Hall. Construction for this project began in early March and is expected to finish in Spring of 2025 and ideally open to students in Fall of 2025.
Included in the Housing, Dining, and Health Building renovation project is the renovation of Jenkins Hall to accommodate the relocation of Ceramics and Sculpture. Jenkins Hall will be transformed to an intentional workspace with the goal of promoting our hands-on learning experience in the arts. The total project budget is $108 million.
Cal Poly Humboldt Professor and Department Chair of the Arts Nicole Jean Hill explained the relocation of ceramics to the new building.
“We are incredibly excited about the renovations for a new space for ceramics and sculpture happening in Jenkins Hall,” Hill said. “Where those classes currently take place was never meant to be a permanent location and there are many issues with the upkeep of those physical buildings. Having a renovated space that is more accessible and closer to the other art facilities will be a big improvement for the department and campus in general. It’s the most exciting development we have had in our department in the 17 years I have been here, besides maybe our merger with the film program. It indicates a real investment in the future of our program.”
With the plan of relocation for the ceramics and sculpture department, comes the question of what will happen to the artwork that gives the studio its personality.
“Hopefully, some elements of the old space will be creatively repurposed in the new building as a nod to the history of the program,” Hill said. “Oddly enough, I believe that ceramics was originally housed in Jenkins Hall back when the program began, so now it is returning there again with a new and improved layout.”
The CSU system is facing a budget shortfall and Cal Poly Humboldt is no exception. To offset a gap in projected expenses and revenue of about $8.3 million, the University Resource Planning Committee (URPC) announced that methods such as reducing the student-faculty ratio, hiring fewer tenure-track professors, and having fewer classes in lower-demand majors will be implemented.
The shortfall has been caused by a combination of things. According to Provost for Academic Affairs Jenn Capps, the main contributor is increases in salaries for CSU employees.
“What happens in the CSU system is that the salary increases are bargained for through the different unions, and then negotiated and arrived at,” Capps said. “And it isn’t as if the resources to fund that come with both those agreements. [They do] a little bit, but not enough to cover the increases, so we’re left with a gap. So, as you can imagine, you have to figure out with existing resources to cover that.”
Rising prices of goods and utilities are also contributing to the gap.
Exactly how big that gap is won’t be known until fall semester, when enrollment numbers are in. The URPC has plans for 3, 5, and 8% reductions.
Many of the planned savings are hiring-related. Humboldt has had a student-faculty ratio of about 16-1 since its enrollment dropped from a peak of over 8,000 in the mid-2010s to under 6,000 today, one of the lowest in the CSU system. According to Capps, the number of faculty didn’t drop at the same rate. One of the reduction strategies is to leave some of those positions unfilled when people retire or quit.
“I get it,” Capps said. “Folks [say], ‘Well, Jane Smith left, so I want to hire somebody for Jane Smith.’ But when Jane Smith was hired, you had 200 more students in your department. Do you still need [them]? That one-for-one replacement thing just won’t work for us. What ends up happening is that all programs are starved for resources, and that’s not fair to anybody.”
Some lower-enrollment classes with multiple sections will likely also be canceled.
“As students are enrolling for the fall term, are we noticing places where students aren’t enrolling in classes, and should we cut those?” Capps said. “Or do we see places where there’s a waitlist and we should add a section to have flexibility? Sometimes it feels like the students just kind of wait. They don’t feel an urgency to register because they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll get there, whatever,’ whereas I’m used to campuses where students are like, ‘Oh, what’s the timeframe? I gotta get in there because I won’t get my class.’ So, maybe somewhere in the middle is good. I don’t want people to be totally stressed out, but I want people to register as soon as they can, so that we can get an accurate picture of what students need. And the more everybody waits [until] the last minute, the more difficult it is.”
The Cannabis Studies Program at Cal Poly Humboldt hosted a discussion on achieving social equity in California with United Core Alliance’s President and CEO Khalil Ferguson on March 22.
Ferguson is a social equity advocate, author, a business law and marijuana law student at Pacific’s School of Law, owner of a cannabis dispensary and the face of the United Core Alliance, a non-profit organization founded by social equity advocates, that works with communities affected by the war on drugs.
Ferguson spoke about the role of the legislative and constitutional limits, including California’s Proposition 209, in hindering equity efforts. The measure eliminated affirmative action programs in public employment, education and contracting and made it illegal for the government to show preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.
“The civil rights movement was asking to ban discrimination based on that,” Ferguson said. “I don’t think that’s a drawback, but it poses a hindrance when it relates to wanting to solve issues such as how to get more women involved in the market.”
In the cannabis industry, affirmative action will sometimes look like state-wide licensing systems with a quota that would grant a certain percentage of licenses to racial minorities, allowing them access to capital and social mobility. Nationally, according to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Cannabis Industry special report, racial minorities account for less than 16% of cannabis business ownership, while also accounting for more than 40% of the total U.S. population. In places like Illinois, Black and Hispanic cannabis majority owners comprise only 1% of the industry.
“The issue of this decade is how to include diversity, equity and inclusion in programs, jobs, houses, services, etc.,” Ferguson said. “It’s kind of frustrating […] to talk about racial justice because we all want racial justice, […] but how can you be passionate about it without knowing what your constraints are?”
Following the legalization of marijuana in California, AB-1793 was passed into law, which automatically dismissed or reduced all marijuana convictions that disproportionately targeted Black and Brown communities during the war on drugs. Equity programs were created to address these impacted communities, but created more problems.
“[Equity] has been over-inclusive,” Ferguson said. “There are folks in North Hollywood who haven’t been impacted by the war on drugs who qualify for social equity benefits.”
Ferguson talked about equity programs across California, and acknowledges that while Sacramento’s Resolution 2018-0323 has its pitfalls, he still uses it as a reference when compared to other equity programs. He believes Los Angeles’ cannabis equity program, for example, is one of the worst equity programs, as it requires applicants to have a commercial lease in the city before applying for a cannabis business license. The average office lease in Los Angeles costs around $45-$55 per square foot.
Humboldt County’s equity program, Project Trellis, has come under fire for similar issues as many cannabis farmers, some of which faced decade-long sentences in the 90’s for growing marijuana, find themselves unable to qualify for the program.
“That’s inequitable in itself,” Ferguson said.
Social equity advocates are now trying to argue for a more narrow definition of what equity would entail.
“I have to say that social equity is not a monolith,” Ferguson said. “Social equity is also easily challengeable because of the restraints that are erected by Prop 209. So, as an advocate, our job and your job is to be very innovative with how we can get around that.”
More information on Khalil’s work can be found at United Core Alliance and Khalil Ferguson’s website.
There’s a group of about 20 students parked outside of the Reese Bullen Gallery screaming their best chants at the university administrators and jet-setting donors who are supposedly inside. None of the protestors have seen them in the hours they’ve been there, and the windows are covered in cardboard anyway.
At the top of 12 stone stairs facing the buildings opposite stand a few people with a megaphone speaking to those down below — and across the quad, and across the street, too. Their megaphone is crackly, but effective.
“All he cares about is getting more students and then fucking them over by making us pay more tuition and more in housing!” Mary Mangubat said, clad in a blue surgical mask and an undone black zip-up hoodie. The protestors nod, as does student Richard Toledo, who is holding the megaphone for her.
Mangubat and Toledo are constant presences at protests in and around campus. They’ve supported everything from Palestinians in Gaza to professors striking this semester. Mangubat even got a protest in her honor when the megaphone usage and other violations of the university’s Time, Place, and Manner restrictions on free speech at the Reese Bullen Gallery on Jan. 23 got her and Toledo yanked into a meeting with Dean of Students Mitch Mitchell and handed a “deferred probation”— in other words, a slap on the wrist. The next time one of them breaks the rules, they may face measures such as expulsion. As it was, they had to write a reflection essay on how to be a better organizer.
Signs from the student protest on Feb 8 prompted by Toledo and Mangubat’s deffered probation following a violation of the university’s Time, Place, and Manner restrictions. Photo by Griffin Mancuso.
Though many of the things people see Mangubat and Toledo do are similar, such as leading protests and showing up to meetings, how they approach those actions contrast heavily.
Mangubat, 20, started protesting when she was attending high school in San Francisco’s SoMa district, where she said there were issues with things like outdoors accessibility. Mangubat, a Filipina, said she had an early awareness of concepts like intersectionality when she noticed the other students working to raise awareness of those issues were richer and went to private schools.
She occupies many roles on campus. She’s the environmental educator at the Women’s Resource Center. She interns for the Student for Quality Education chapter at Cal Poly Humboldt. She works for the Environmental Science and Management department on their Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion committee. All of these titles add up, but at the end of it, Mangubat sees herself as a coordinator, setting people up with resources they need.
Toledo, 32, defines his role on campus similarly. However, the route he took to get to Humboldt was vastly different than Mangubat’s.
He developed an early sense of the unfairness in the world after watching his mom struggle to afford to house them while he was growing up. When Toledo was 18, he tore his ACL skateboarding a few days after his insurance provider dropped him and got thousands of dollars worth of debt when he couldn’t afford to pay it all. He hopes others can avoid that fate.
“I find purpose in anything that I can tell is making a difference of some kind,” Toledo said. “That’s why I want to work in restoration science as well. I think that being on the ground and watching those seeds literally grow – not even just metaphorically, but watching the seeds that I’ve planted grow, the things that I’ve done, develop. That makes me happy. Seeing an actual difference from my actions is something I really enjoy.”
Now in his third semester at Humboldt, Toledo is in his second go-round through a university. He got a multimedia production degree from CSU Northridge in 2020, but after a few years of working as a web developer, he decided to quit and get a degree in environmental studies.
“It turned out that I was pretty good at coding and there was a lot of money in it,” Toledo said. “So, I just kind of fell into it, and I ended up despising it. Something about just how tedious the work was, and seeing the news everyday, and watching what was happening outside of my bubble at work, and wanting to do something about it as well and not just be sitting behind the computer. After a certain point, you see enough climate headlines that the pay doesn’t really matter anymore, and you just want to do something good.”
Toledo, a self-described “de-colonial Marxist,” is deeply into studying leftist theory, and idolizes people such as Marxist revolutionary Thomas Sankara and Black Panther Fred Hampton. He’s currently working on organizing a chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society. His earliest memory at a protest was during the Occupy protests back in 2012, when he was 20 years old. Toledo met everyone from garden-variety Democratic Socialists, to anarchists, to socialists to full-blooded commies. The experience left a large impact on him. Now, he has too many books to store them all on the dorm bookshelves and leaves them in piles on his floor.
Mangubat’s style tends to be more accessible, not founded on turgid leftist musings or obscure revolutionaries. Though these self-appointed guardians of campus operate on distinct levels, what does make them come to the forefront of every anti-something shindig on campus is a love of disruption.
It’s what Toledo and Mangubat use to explain college students protesting events happening both half the globe away and close to home. Student activists get a lot of flak from the general student body because of the perceived irrelevance and disconnect from Arcata to places like Gaza or Washington D.C. They argue that that’s part of the point.
“The only avenue that people have is disruption,” Toledo said. “And if you disrupt as many things as possible, even if they may not be wholly related, it’s going to cause more problems for the people at the top. They’re going to take notice of that. If you have whole businesses shut down, if you have schools that are shut down on certain days, if you have more and more people that are sympathetic to the cause and getting out there in the streets, making noise and demanding things on the local level, that reaches up to the top. They realize that and they start to change their narrative, and they might even start to change things.”
Both Mangubat and Toledo feel the Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) restrictions they violated are excessive and defeat the point of protesting and organizing. One of the TPM restrictions requires organizers to make it clear to administration when and where they plan to protest, a rule Mangubat hates.
“The rule of protesting is that you’re disrupting systems,” Mangubat said. “You’re disrupting the place and the people who are oppressing you, so it’s not productive or efficient to just be like ‘Hey, here’s everything I’m doing,’ and then, admin will be like, ‘OK, now we know what they’re saying…’ They have every step to prepare to cover their own asses if they had to.”
Both Toledo and Mangubat do not have mixed feelings when it comes to Cal Poly Humboldt’s administration, which they characterize as aloof from campus and not held accountable often enough for things like last semester’s eviction of the van lifers. At the Jan. 23 protest, Dean of Students Mitch Mitchell called the university police department on them — something campus employees are supposed to do when there’s a protest on campus. It wasn’t a move that went over well with the students that were there, especially after he talked to some of the protestors there in a way many of them thought was overly confrontational. Mitchell left when protestors booed him and chanted the word “Shame” at him over and over again. Mangubat feels that outburst was reasonable because of his position as an administrator.
“From my perspective, I think it’s justified because every step that they had taken since my disciplinary notice to the students trying to put on this protest, they had been escalating everything …” Mangubat said. “So, I think in some way, it was needed for admin to see what students are capable of doing. Not in a harmful way, but in a human way, like a human response type of way … it’s a complicated situation because, you know, at the end of the day, people are human, they have feelings, but your hierarchy stands out so much more. And you’re acting in that position.”
“I’m proud of what we set out to try to do to try to get the attention of Tom Jackson,” Toledo said. “I’m not proud of exactly how it turned out.”
7:24 a.m. – Welfare Check – student’s phone is pinging to the area of the D street neighborhood center and parent says he should be in his dorm. Didn’t answer the door but his vehicle was on campus.
1:23 p.m. – Medical Aid – Alcohol related – Willow Residence Hall on Granite Ave.
Subject laying on ground with scratches on him in front of building.
Monday March 18, 2024
1:12 p.m. – Citizen Assist – Library
Subject reported unattended E-bike charging with keys still inside of it. Subject states bikes are not supposed to be in the library. Unable to locate owner.
Tuesday March 19, 2024
4:09 p.m. – Suspicious Circumstances – Nelson Hall West
Subject states there is a suitcase outside near a green electrical box.
6:05 p.m. – Grand Theft – Campus Apartments
Anonymous report of an E-bike that was stolen between March 18 and 19.
8:08 p.m – 911 Abandoned call – Shasta Resident Hall
8:16 p.m. – 911 Abandoned call – Humboldt Ave.
9:30 p.m. – 911 Abandoned call – Lot FS-6 on Plaza Ave
Laughing heard in the background.
Wednesday March 20, 2024
8:49 a.m. – Emergency Elevator Button – Behavioral and Social Sciences
1:53 p.m. – Vehicle Booted – Lot Library South on Laurel Dr.
Vehicle booted for unpaid parking citations.
5:13 p.m. – Vehicle Boot Removal – Lot Library South on Laurel Dr.
Fines paid, boot removed.
Thursday March 21, 2024
2:34 p.m. – Suspicious Person
Subject and her friend were walking through the community forest when a male approached them and made a concerning statement regarding doing harm. Unknown if he is associated with campus.
4:20 p.m. – 911 Hang up/ No Response
Two 911 hang ups from two different 911 only phones.
6:17 p.m. – Drug Activity
Subject enroute to address a possible marijuana related incident. Residents are refusing to open the door for the RAs. Negative contraband, handled by housing.
11:35 p.m. – Patrol Check – Creekside Lounge
Subject calling to report hearing a female scream in unknown area of creekside
Friday March 22, 2024
3:36 p.m. – Disturbance – Library
Female in the first floor women’s restroom heard yelling and cussing. She was escorted out of the building and going to take the bus home.
Saturday March 23, 2024
3:16 p.m. – Suspicious Person – Craftsman Mall on St. Louis rd.
Subject wearing a raincoat walking through the property.
Sunday March 24, 2024
2:31 p.m. – Suspicious Person – Craftsman Mall on St. Louis rd.
Report of person walking through property. Only described as wearing a yellow rain jacket.
Monday March 25, 2024
2:46 p.m. – Disturbance – Library
Subject in the lobby filming another member. He is currently sitting at the cafe wearing an orange jacket. Subject contacted and decided to leave the premise for the day.
2:58 p.m. – Public Intoxication – Kinesiology & Athletics on Gymnasium Ln.
Intoxicated subject falling down the stairs. Arrested.
On Oct. 25, 2023, Cal Poly Humboldt sent out an email to the entire student body detailing a list of new parking regulations that were going to be enforced effective immediately. However, none of the new regulations actually pertained to the majority of the on-campus community, but rather to a much smaller and more vulnerable one: the van lifers.
Jan. 11, 2024, Assembly member Corey Jackson introduced bill AB 1818 into the state legislature. If passed, all California State Universities and California Community Colleges would be required, and all UC campuses requested, to allow students that live in their vehicles to park on campus overnight as long as they possess a valid parking pass issued from their institution.
A humble community of vehicle-dwelling college students, the van lifers lived comfortably and peacefully in the parking lots of Cal Poly Humboldt for many years before the university finally decided to crack down on them. After the university claimed that their presence in the parking lots created ‘unsafe and unsanitary conditions,’ the van lifers were forced to leave the campus and look for overnight parking elsewhere.
Caleb Chen, a first-year Cal Poly Humboldt masters student in the public sociology program, was one of the students who were forced to leave. At the time, he was living in his vehicle, and the uncertainty of not knowing where he was going to sleep that night took its toll on him.
“In November, when we all had to move, it scattered us all to different places, and some of us ended up at the Arcata Community Center,” Chen said. “It definitely felt less safe there. It caused a lot of [stress] at the end of the semester that got in the way of schoolwork and the research assistantship that I’d come to this school for. Cops locking the gate to the community center at night meant if I needed to drive off all of a sudden in the middle of the night due to a break-in attempt, I’d be stuck in that parking lot. That wasn’t ever a concern at the school parking lot.”
At the beginning of 2024, Chen’s vehicle broke down. He couldn’t afford to fix it, so he ditched the van life and moved into an apartment with his significant other. Regardless of his new living situation, Chen was still impressed with the opportune timing of AB 1818’s proposal.
“It’s very timely, and whoever introduced it must have had their finger to the pulse, because this isn’t only happening at Cal Poly Humboldt,” Chen said. “It just speaks to the widespreadness of this and the fact that students at Humboldt are really just a drop in the pond, so to speak, of people that are affected by this situation.”
In contrast to Chen, junior Hannah Barrett and sophomore Joshua Tarman left their overpriced one bedroom apartment at the beginning of the new year and moved into a camper together for a more favorable living situation. Barrett is a psychology major, while Tarman attends College of the Redwoods with a focus on early childhood education.
The couple originally planned to park their camper on Cal Poly Humboldt’s campus overnight, but when the Oct. 25 email was sent out they were forced to make other arrangements, including parking in areas of Samoa and Manila Dunes.
“I think that secure parking is something that should be a given for students,” Tarman said. “[Students are] paying to be in an environment where they’re supposed to learn, and so if a school wants to be able to provide all the facets for students to learn, they should definitely have a priority over their safety and their emotions. Students can’t learn when they’re just figuring out how to live in the first place.”
While Barrett and Tarman are doing well enough with their vehicle parked off campus, they would definitely prefer the safety and security of an on-campus parking spot if AB 1818 were to pass.
“I just think that if you’re able to park here overnight with a parking pass, it is a little silly that you just can’t physically be inside your vehicle,” Barrett said. “It’s like at that point, [the university] is just trying to make it more difficult for people, because there’s [nobody] – at least I didn’t see – being unsanitary or dumping anything.”
The unsafe and unsanitary accusations have rubbed many of the van lifers the wrong way, including junior and mechanical engineering major, Derek Beatty.
“That was a smear campaign,” said Beatty. “It was, I guess, the only way that they could find to try to make other students feel like, ‘Oh I guess that’s why they’re getting kicked out.’ It was like they needed to give some reason so that there wasn’t as much outrage, but obviously, I don’t think many people believed those claims, and I think that even made people a little more upset on our behalf. But yeah… it’s kinda bullshit that they said that and then didn’t have any evidence to back it up other than a picture of a rainwater collection bucket.”
The Lumberjacks request for complaints against van life students resulted in a total of two back-to-back complaints made by two anonymous people. Otherwise, no complaints were found.
Beatty is hopeful that AB 1818 will pass soon, so that he and others can park on campus again. He misses the safety net and the sense of community that on-campus parking provided for the van lifers, and having to park off-campus every night has taken that away.
One of the primary benefits of on-campus overnight parking is consistency. Having a dependable place to call home, even if it’s just a place to park a van or camper, can make all the difference in the world to the van lifers, one of Cal Poly Humboldt’s most at-risk communities.
“I spend all my time in this same parking spot,” Beatty said. “It’s just now for some reason I have to not be here from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., when I could just stay parked here, not have to move all the time, and just have a consistent spot.”
Carrie White, a Cal Poly Humboldt senior and biology major, lived on campus in her camper starting in 2021, but it recently broke down and has been stuck at a mechanic shop for several weeks. Since then, White’s living situation has been volatile, sleeping sometimes with friends, and at other times on the floor at one of her places of work. She hopes that AB 1818 will pass, to give low-income, displaced, immigrant students like herself a safe and secure location for alternative living.
“I think that passing the California Assembly Bill AB 1818 is the bare minimum a multi-million dollar institution affiliated with the CSU organization owes to its students,” White said. “In general, folks living in their vehicles are amongst the most vulnerable students. We know from thousands of studies that homelessness is a risk factor for mental and physical health pathologies, increased loneliness and isolation, decreased academic performance, decreased quality of life, and suicide. Passing a bill allowing homeless students to stay on-campus, in their vehicles, with a valid permit shouldn’t be a discussion – it should be a glaringly obvious choice. This is a social crisis, a public health crisis, a humanitarian crisis – and it is here, on our campus.”
Student homelessness is a problem that plagues practically every college campus in California, and Cal Poly Humboldt is no exception. Cal Poly Humboldt students are still prohibited from sleeping in their vehicles on campus, but if AB 1818 passes, they can come back and the van life community can rebuild in a safe environment.
“I felt safer staying on-campus up until I was forced to leave,” White said. “In the act that I believe was an attempt to shame homeless students off campus – cue gross Cal Poly Humboldt email accusing homeless students of being ‘unsafe and unsanitary’ – the trust I have in this institution is null and void. Having said this, I would absolutely move back to campus if Bill AB 1818 passed; proud, in a state of activism, and don’t worry – safe and most definitely sanitary.”
California’s Division of Boating and Waterways (DBW) alleges that Cal Poly Humboldt has been misusing the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center (HBAC) for its scenic views and now swanky administrative office space – thanks to a recent $412,000 renovation. The university is not, the breach of contract notice charges, fulfilling its commitment to boating instruction and safety training.
“[Cal Poly Humboldt] is not using the [HBAC] for the purposes for which the building was funded, or for which the property was leased from the city and approved by the state lands commission,” stated a notice of breach of contract notice sent to Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr. in Dec. 2023. The notice outlined the key problem – that without notice nor written approval, which is required by the operating agreement, Cal Poly Humboldt transformed boater-funded classrooms, offices and storage spaces into alumni fundraising offices, private club rowing, storage of private club vessels and support for private university fundraising activities.
In understanding the breach of contract, it is helpful to recognize the complex web of involvement at the HBAC between the city of Eureka, the state of California and Cal Poly Humboldt. In summary, the Department of Boating and Waterways put forth $4.067 million to fund the construction of the facility, as well as $702,000 since 2003 to offset the costs of the university’s ongoing boating instruction and safety training. Cal Poly Humboldt leases the land the facility sits upon from the city of Eureka. Though the HBAC is fully owned and operated by the university, an operating agreement between the DBW and the university, as well as a lease agreement between Eureka and the university, outline specific guidelines for the expected uses of the facility, many of which have not been fulfilled by the university, according to DBW.
This room, formerly storage space, is one of the rooms that have been converted and expanded to create office space for Center Activities.
The operating agreement was signed in 2003 and it expires in 2028. While uses of the HBAC have consistently evolved, the university’s costly renovation to create office space for top administrators conflicts with the contracted uses of the HBAC, according to the breach of contract notice. Section 5 of the operating agreement states that the university shall operate the HBAC as a boating instruction and safety center, providing two key functions: (1) boating and water safety instruction for the general public as well as university students, faculty and staff and (2) recreational services, provided that it does not interfere with the boating and waterway safety instruction courses.
Furthermore, the operating agreement states that any material alterations or improvements to the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center must have the prior written approval from DBW. The university did not obtain written approval for changes made at the HBAC, however the university did mention the Advancement Division’s move to the Eureka waterfront property on at least two occasions, according to DBW. First, in March 2022, the university told DBW that university fundraising teams had temporarily moved into the HBAC conference rooms, due to the pandemic. In September 2022, the university informed DBW that cubicles had been moved into the second floor classrooms of the HBAC for the Alumni Relations department, while the extended education program, OLLI, had been moved to campus. The DBW alleges that Cal Poly Humboldt has denied their recent request to inspect the building. DBW’s last inspection of the HBAC occurred on Aug. 15, 2018.
Additionally, the breach of contract notice highlighted the university’s failure to share copies of financial records showing investments and modifications to the HBAC. These records were requested on Sept. 20, 2022 during a conference call with Frank Whitlatch, Cooper Jones, and Tim Downs, according to the DBW. The records had still not been shared with DBW at the time of mailing the breach of contract notice on Dec. 19, 2023. Frank Whitlatch, vice president & executive director of the University Foundation, did not respond to an interview request.
Cal Poly Humboldt’s Response
On Feb. 8, Cal Poly Humboldt sent the requested financial records as well as a letter written by Nick Pettit, executive director of athletics and campus recreation, which directly responded to many of the issues raised by the DBW.
“While DBW claims that the University provides ‘negligible [HBAC]-offered public access and boating services,’ the numbers and the facts show otherwise,” Pettit said in his response.
Cal Poly Humboldt shared multiple Aquatic Center Grants Annual Report’s showing the tally of individuals who had enrolled in HBAC provided boating safety courses: 2020 (124 individuals), 2021 (70 individuals), 2022 (800 individuals), and 2023 (465 individuals).
In contrast, DBW’s investigation displayed a lack of courses available to the general public.
“As of Dec. 2023, the Department of Boating and Waterways’ internet searches did not reveal that courses were, or had been, available to the general public,” Adeline Yee, information officer for California State Parks, said. “Aquatic Center annual reports informed DBW that some private groups, school groups, and non-profit groups used the docks and outdoor areas of the HBAC for boating classes during that time frame.”
During DBW’s Feb. 1 search for current courses offered to students and the general public, they found that the five sailing courses are currently being offered by the HBAC, with a max capacity of 26 students between the five courses.
For context, DBW highlighted that a similar DBW investment, Sacramento State University’s Aquatic Center at Lake Natoma, teaches approximately 6,600 students annually.
In response, the university noted the higher enrollment at Sacramento State as well as the larger population of Sacramento County.
Aileen Yoo, Director of News and Information for Cal Poly Humboldt, confirmed that boating and outdoor programs have seen a slight decrease in participation in the 2023-24 academic year.
Pettit noted that the university has spent over $44,000 on student staffing since July 2021 for equipment rentals, while only bringing in $20,801 in revenue. More broadly, the university disagreed with DBW’s interpretation of the operating guidelines.
“To the extent DBW asserts that the agreement requires that the University exclusivelyuse the HBAC for those activities, the agreement has no such language. While it provides that the ‘University shall operate the PROJECT as a Boating Instruction and Safety Center,’ this does not mean that the University cannot utilize portions of the HBAC for other University purposes,” Pettit said in his response.
If anything can be agreed upon in the chaos, it is that the university has indeed used the HBAC for a plethora of uses over the last two decades. Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery said that the HBAC had previously taught classes in everything from home economics to cooking when the non-profit University Center managed the facility (currently, the HBAC is managed by Cal Poly Humboldt).
“[When] the University Center ran it, I would venture to say that there was an equal amount of non-complying uses, if not more,” Slattery said. “I think that somebody could have previously made the same accusations.”
Acknowledging that the catalyst for the breach of contract notice appeared to be the university Advancement Division’s move to the HBAC, Pettit emphasized that this move had not negatively affected boating and waterway safety instruction.
Advancement Division moves into the HBAC
The Advancement Division now uses 1,906 square feet of cubicle space, two waterfront offices and a renovated 606 square foot first-floor lobby in the HBAC, according to construction documents obtained through public record requests. The university spent $80,849 on furniture and supplies for the new office spaces created for the Advancement Division, including $11,076 on new chairs. The first-floor, waterfront office previously used by Center Activities is now occupied by Stephanie Lane, executive director of Alumni Relations. Lane did not respond to an interview request. An existing storage room on the first floor was modified and expanded to create a new office for Center Activities.
On five separate visits to the HBAC by a Lumberjack reporter, access was never given to the modifications made to the second floor to accommodate the university Advancement Division. More importantly, no representatives from Center Activities were present during any of these five visits to the HBAC. To schedule a viewing of the new office spaces on the second floor, Lane advised contacting Travis Flemming, director of Facilities Management. Neither Flemming nor Building & Program Coordinator Danielle Muniz responded to a request for an interview. Likewise, none of the 20 Advancement Division employees contacted for an interview granted one.
Pettit’s response to DBW concluded by stating that the university is open to an inspection of the HBAC, but emphasized that advanced notice and the presence of representatives from both parties was crucial. Pettit was contacted for an interview, but deferred to the university News and Information department for answers.
The breach of contract notice gives the university 90 days, until March 29, to remedy the noted breaches.
“The DBW looks forward to the HBAC being restored to a public access resource and the purposes for which it was constructed and the revitalization of a vibrant publicly accessible boating education program that stimulates boating recreation and safety in the north coast region,” Yee said in an email.
On a drizzly, cold Humboldt day, Madelyn Vink was getting ready for a first date. With her hair in two braids, she picked some jasmine flowers and placed them in the pleats. She remembers looking down and seeing them still in place when she woke up in the hospital hours later, with blood soaking the flowers.
On Sept. 1, 2023, Vink, a religious studies major with an art history minor, was in the crosswalk at the intersection of Harpst and Rossow St. when she and her date were struck by a vehicle.
“I had a crush on this guy, so we decided to meet up on campus as the seemingly safe place to go on a date,” Vink said. “We were just planning to go on a walk, because I thought that would be better than unsafe sex. Turns out that was wrong.”
They met outside of College Creek Marketplace, where Vink parked her bike. From there, they began their date. The first part went well, with them taking a stroll in the community forest. Later, Vink decided she was ready to go home, and together they planned to walk back to her bike. When they crossed the street, Vink and her companion were both hit by an oncoming car.
“The date was very fun at first,” Vink said. “Then, when I was going to get my bike, in the crosswalk in front of [the] Marketplace, we were both hit. I took most of the damage, having flown 22 feet. I suffered what is known as a traumatic brain injury.”
After being transported from three different medical centers, Vink ended up at UCSF where she received life saving treatment. For several months, Vink was in intensive care fighting for her life. However, she fought through and is now back in school. Some of her family has since moved up from their home in Turlock to Humboldt county to support her in her recovery.
Vink, who chose her major to make sense of the world both spiritually and practically, is considering enrolling at Cal Poly Humboldt. She is taking the summer to decide if she wants to continue her education here.
“I would’ve graduated this summer,” Vink said. “Given my injuries, it’s going to take another year at least.”
Despite the traumatic event, Vink is still as hopeful as ever. While the accident may have taken time out of her life, she refuses to allow it to take anymore.
“I’m going ok, everyday is a struggle, but I am so happy to be alive,” Vink said. “Most people that suffer my kinds of injuries don’t make it, or they are in a wheelchair the rest of their lives. I got lucky somehow.”
The lesson Vink wants people to take away from this horrific accident is to be more careful when behind the wheel.
“I’d like to encourage people to take more caution when driving, especially on campus,” Vink said. “All could’ve been prevented if care was taken while driving. Instead I got five of the hardest months of my life. So, please be careful.”
Besides that, Vink wants to remind people to live authentically. This experience has taught her to appreciate those around you and the life you live.
“Live the life you want to!” Vink said. “Life really is special, and equally fragile. There’s no time to waste. I want people to be happy. Life is a gift. Keep fighting in school and dancing in life. Love is everywhere, even in your darkest moments.”
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