When the Cal State system unveiled a new policy prohibiting encampments on Aug. 15, it was met with frustration and disappointment by pro-Palestine student organizers at Cal Poly.
The Cal State’s new policy bans encampments, overnight demonstrations and unauthorized camping items. It also restricts wearing masks that conceal identity during protests and requires written permission for chalking and displaying banners on campus.
It leaves student organizers unsure of how this change will impact peaceful protests on campus – especially when they feel a moral conviction to pursue justice for Palestinians yet experience pressure to diminish their public support for the cause.
Andrew Gould is an animal science junior and an activist associated with Cal Poly’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and the university’s Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) chapter. He sees his role as an ally to Palestinians, coming from a German Catholic background.
“I’m also there as a Christian who believes that every one of us has equal dignity, and systems of oppression are profoundly immoral because they take that human dignity away,” Gould said.
The change comes after a year of pro-Palestine activism rattling the system and a state budget agreement requiring universities to send campuswide communications with campus-specific policies.
The plan is considered interim since it does not apply to union-represented employees until a “meet and confer process” is finished with unions like CFA and CSUEU, according to the FAQ page.
Organizers’ concerns come from witnessing disproportionate multi-agency police responses to the May 1 die-in and the May 23 California Boulevard demonstration — consisting of officers from campus police, the city’s police department and the county sheriff’s office.
Each campus is responsible for specific parameters of their free speech guidelines such as indicating campus operational hours and designating two administration officials for the policy’s execution, according to the Cal State.
Published on Aug. 28, Cal Poly’s campus policy assigned Allison Baird-James, senior vice president of administration and finance, as the designated university official for these regulations.
However, Baird-James transferred her authority on “oversight, implementation and enforcement” to George Hughes, assistant vice president of public safety and chief of the Cal Poly Police Department. Hughes also serves as the designated liaison managing student and law enforcement relations.
Mustang News contacted the Dean of Students Joy Pedersen and the Cal Poly Police Department on Aug. 22; both deferred to university spokesperson Matt Lazier, instead of responding to questions. The Office of Dean of Students created the university’s Freedom of Speech webpage, whereas the Cal Poly Police Department is involved in enforcement of these policies.
From Aug. 22 to Sept. 3, Lazier said he “doesn’t have additional details to share” about Cal Poly’s policy.
Cal Poly has had a prior encampment ban
Despite the seemingly significant change, Cal Poly had an existing encampment ban before the Cal State added its own restriction. Other campuses and the Chancellor’s Office had similar bans in place before the system’s new policy, Cal State spokesperson Hazel Kelly said in a statement to EdSource.
Students found breaking the Cal State code of conduct will be reminded of relevant policies and provided with university-approved methods of expression, according to the FAQ page. Subsequent violations may lead to disciplinary probation, suspension or expulsion. Exceptions to this rule include activities either endangering public safety or defined as emergencies.
Employees who violate these restrictions may be subject to discipline, suspension or termination.
Ensuring safety and speech
Dr. Deb Donig, a Cal Poly English professor and faculty advisor for Mustangs United for Israel, favors a public, transparent, clear, and evenly enforced policy, deeming these qualities “consistent with free speech rights.”
Donig considers consequences as necessary to standardize the limits of free speech. She finds it “questionable” if any ideological group seeks exemptions to comprehensive free speech policies.
Even if bias is a factor in the policy’s enforcement, Donig says Cal State’s nondiscrimination procedures and federal law already account for unjust practices.
However, other faculty and students are concerned about how much of the Cal State’s policy, which includes strict punishment for violators, can be left up to interpretation due to broad language.
Dr. Foaad Khosmood, a Cal Poly computer engineering professor, organized against the proposed war in Iraq during his three years as a Cal Poly graduate student.
Upon first glance, Khosmood found one restriction unsettling: preventing access and removing individuals from campus when a designated university official is given “reasonable cause.”
“On the spot, upon their own personal judgment, the official is authorized to kick a student off campus,” Khosmood said. “The CSU has the audacity to call this ‘withdrawal of consent.’”
Khosmood worries that the outcome will stifle free speech rights – targeting unfavorable protestors.
Cal Poly’s role designation legitimizes Khosmood’s prediction: a passive approach by the Cal Poly administration, leaving the responsibility to law enforcement. He also mentions a lack of accountability measures for bad actors, resulting in “more chaos and less safety.”
President of the Cal State Student Association Iese Esera hopes that an equitable implementation of this policy reflects its stated goal of “safeguarding students’ rights of protected free speech.”
“It is a little too early for us to see what the enforcement will look like, but it is of high priority for us that students feel they can express themselves freely and not be unjustly met with punitive responses when doing so,” Esera said in an email to Mustang News.
Speaking out
Juls Altman, co-chair of Cal Poly’s YDSA chapter and philosophy sophomore, is involved with local pro-Palestine organizing and sees the new regulations as an intentional move to inhibit students’ expression.
“I think that they’re honestly just going to do whatever they can to shut this down because it is not a good look for them at all,” Altman said. “And they could just end this by agreeing to demands.”
Cal Poly YDSA publicized a list of demands on May 6, calling on the Chancellor’s Office and the Cal State Board of Trustees to divest from defense companies and to issue a call for a cease-fire and an arms embargo.
Gould anticipates some students stopping their involvement due to the potential repercussions.
Gould said the May 23 pro-Palestine demonstration serves as a form of resistance to the administration’s unwillingness to hear student concerns and as a direct challenge to the system’s policy that is an “attempt to intimidate.”
Protestors were chanting and circling a crosswalk on a major campus entrance, but Hughes defined this as an “unlawful assembly” because it restricted the movement of cars and pedestrians.
In July, the Chancellor’s Office sought out feedback on the policy from its campuses in the form of email comments, Kelly said in an email to Mustang News. These comments were “thoroughly reviewed and the policy was edited.”
According to Esera, the Cal State Student Association has also been collecting feedback from student leaders for its next public meeting on Sept. 21-22.
To improve existing conditions, Gould encourages peers to continue speaking up.
“The student population has to fight back because the university is not going to fight for us,” Gould said. “They’re not going to protect us. We protect us.”
