National Students for a Democratic Society stands with the Goodwin Forum protesters at Cal Poly Humboldt, with Rick Toledo and all students suspended and fired by the university for protesting for Palestine!
Three students - Rick Toledo and two others, including a housing resident assistant - were suspended, fired, banned from campus, and are facing further discipline from Cal Poly Tech Humboldt for a student sit-in for divestment from Israel that took place on Feb 27.
On Feb 27, Students for a Democratic Society, the Young Democratic Socialists of America, and other students at Cal Poly Tech Humboldt attended a public forum with administrators in the quad calling for the university to divest from apartheid Israel. They were also demanding that the striking union staff workers get raises they were promised, as well as a noncompliance policy with ICE. The forum event itself was a concession by the school, something that administration agreed to plan only after a student sit-in for divestment on Feb 20. When it was clear that administrators had no interest in addressing their demands, the students began a sit-in in the quad, then marched to Nelson Hall where they took over Goodwin Forum. The forum takeover lasted until 1am.
Students attempted to set up another tent and create another encampment for Gaza, and administrators stole the tent. Administrators and police locked down the nearby buildings and the building's bathrooms, and manhandled anyone who came and went. They sent in police at 1am under the cover of night to threaten students with arrest. Even though students in the end complied with leaving the building, now as many as three were suspended, banned from campus, and are now fired from their jobs. Rick Toledo was falsely accused of assault, in one of many blatant lies told by administration. What’s even more shameful is that the students currently being targeted with charges also were not even the ones in the building.
It is not wrong to continue protesting for Palestine. All these students did was exercise their First Amendment right to free speech and assembly. The university promised that they would consider divestment from apartheid Israel and a sanctuary campus policy, and thus far they have delivered none of those promises. Moreover, they are now creating an atmosphere where support for Palestine can be punishable by withdrawing your degree, taking your livelihood, and leaving you without a job. We condemn these violations of the students' rights to free speech and right to express solidarity with Palestine.
We in National SDS reject administration's lies about the students, and we stand firmly with the students at Cal Poly Humboldt. Just as it was heroic to take a building for Palestine in 2024, that is still true today in 2026. The genocide has not ended, US support for Israel - now manifest in a war even on Iran and Lebanon raging on today - has not ended, and therefore the student movement for justice for Palestine has not ended. The suspensions should be lifted, Toledo and the other students should be reinstated into their classes and jobs, and the university should cease its attacks on the free speech of Toledo, the other student protesters from Goodwin Forum, and any other pro-Palestine students at Cal Poly Humboldt.