By Daniel Rivera
On March 26, students and faculty members gathered at CSULB, and marched through the campus, demanding that the university protect its students from ICE, budget cuts, divest from the military, and reduce regulations on speech on campus.
“I’m here out to support this community event to support undocumented students, fight against the budget cuts at the CSUs, and talk about how we do like the new time placement manner policy at the Cal-State system”, said Lisa, a student activist and media liaison, told Random Length News.
The policies include regulations on when, where, and how meetings and events can be facilitated on campus so that it won’t disrupt other students or university business. Limitations like not allowing protest indoors and amplified noise after a certain time, for this protest it was set between 12 pm and 2 pm.
The student protestors called it “too short,” and demanded more time and more access to the school. According to the campus, the policies have been in effect for about 30 years, and after the California Budget Act was passed, it was moved from Campus rules and regulations to its document for easier access.
The protestors moved through the campus, culminating in visiting the Office of the President,(in violation of the Time and Manner policies), where the staff locked the doors. The students began taping their demands to the wall, covering the glass panels in paper from top to bottom.
“So right now, the current plan is that if ICE were to show up on our campus they would be directed to our university police department, who would handle them. But the truth is that our university police departments do not stand in solidarity with the students,” Lisa continued.
The protestors wore masks to protect themselves and limited identifying information for the press because students have been targeted at other universities for participating in protests, especially ones for Palestine that swept the country since the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
They want a team to respond to ICE and protect their fellow students from deportation, they want CSULB to divest and cut ties with its various military/aviation partners like Boeing.
“What’s happening at the US and Mexico border is not separate from what’s happening in Gaza. They are connected by the same companies like Boeing, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman who make billions [of dollars] on war. . . the CSULB is building the p[ipleines into our classrooms in the guise of opportunity and our tuition pays for it,” Emily, a student speaker said during the rally.
In 2014, the CSULB received a supply of the year from Boeing, which employs the most students, numbering around 1,200. CSULB makes up a corner in the so-called golden triangle, the cooperative relationship between the military, higher education, and industry.
The CSUs have faced increasing pressure on their internal speech policies from the Trump administration, which has set its sights on protestors on visas and targeting pro-Palestinian speech with deportation at universities across the country.
Alongside the increased pressure on immigrant communities, the campus is facing budget cuts from both the state and federal governments, impacting services, limiting course choices, and cutting jobs.
The protestors do not believe that the state-at-large has their back, that the state and more specifically the governor is sliding to the right, especially after inviting rightwing extremists Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk to his podcast in recent weeks.
“We’ve seen the university turn to budget cuts at this crucial moment to say everything is inevitable… that it’s up to a governor who has chosen to court right-wing voices, to sit down with authoritarians rather than investing in the people’s university,” said Rob, assistant professor of sociology at CSULB and California Faculty Association member.
Random Lengths News has reached out to the university for comment and has not heard back immediately.