Cal Poly Humboldt closure still enforced after crackdown on protesters
Wednesday morning, police continued to guard entrances to Cal Poly Humboldt. Police refused access to the campus to the Times-Standard following a crackdown on a week-long occupation of the quad area, with 32 protesters arrested by Tuesday.
It’s unclear why the campus continues to be closed. Phone calls and emails to university media contacts to get access to the university went unanswered by the Times-Standard deadline Wednesday. Sheriff William Honsal noted in an email that it is the university’s prerogative to keep the campus closed.
“The university continues the hard closure of campus through May 10. Areas at or beyond a barricade, or in and around Siemens Hall and Nelson Hall East, remain closed off,” a news release from the university said.
Police at the university didn’t know how long the closure would be effective and told the Times-Standard to leave. The “hard closure” of the campus was announced Friday in an all-campus email, noting that people on campus could face arrest or citation for trespassing. Now, the closure is being enforced by police after a legion of officers from a variety of California agencies arrested protesters sitting in a circle on the quad late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
The Wednesday news release said that facilities teams are working to clear Siemens and Nelson halls, occupied by protesters over the week, and are beginning the painting of extensive graffiti.
The university said of the 32 people who were arrested 13 are students, 1 is a faculty member and 18 are nonstudents. At least one of the arrested identified to the Times-Standard as an alum of the university. It’s unclear how alumni were classified by the university among those arrest. Honsal noted in the email that many were detained at the campus:25 were arrested and booked early Tuesday. 6 were arrested during the day Tuesday for trespassing, he wrote.
24 people arrested on campus are listed as released by bail bond or cash bail according to the Humboldt County jail release sheet for May 1. The Students for the Democratic Society and the Bay Area Anit-Repression Committee each organized a bail fund. Dozens rallied outside the courthouse Tuesday in support of those arrested and organizers arranged the release of the protesters on bail.
District Attorney Stacey Eads said in an email she has not received any police reports for those arrested on campus as part of the protest as of yet.
Sage Alexander can be reached at 707-441-0504