Tensions have grown between the student population and campus police services in the last nine months, leading a large group of students to gather around the University Library Lawn in protest on Thursday, April 23. Students, staff and faculty rallied alongside the CSUN S.O.A.R (Students Organizing Against Repression) Coalition, which collaborated with the new CSUN Hands Off Students Coalition to raise awareness of issues regarding students allegedly being surveyed, targeted and criminalized on campus by CSUN Department of Police Services (DPS).
Marquita Gammage, CSUN professor of Africana Studies and director of the Ethnic Studies Center for Race, participated in today’s rally to support students impacted by these issues.
“CSUN’s own documented evidence shows a longstanding history of police violence and abuse against students, and students feeling unsafe in and outside of the classroom,” Gammage said. “It’s important that we begin to address the issues of policing and the psychological harm that is happening to students.”
Another primary focus of the protest was the CSU system’s $17 million deal with OpenAI, which is expiring in May and is being negotiated for renewal in June. Zaineb Valles, a member of the S.O.A.R Coalition, was motivated to protest this deal today.
“We are one of 11 different CSU campuses that today are protesting that deal because OpenAI, their technology, is used in ICE surveillance of communities here,” Valles said. “It’s not okay for our money to be going towards tools that actively discourage critical thinking and are contributing to dropping literacy rates.”
As students rallied at the base of the library, they began walking across campus towards the University Student Union (USU) while chanting in unison about their frustrations with campus policies. Freshman Chase Dike participated, waving a banner stating “Hands off students @ CSUN.”
“To be honest, it’s been an ongoing topic for years now. Students have to fight for their rights,” Dike said. “I’m fighting here because many people like myself are here right now at this moment.”
Dike was one of many CSUN students who were disgruntled by recent police activity occurring on campus. Fliers handed out by the CSUN S.O.A.R Coalition included reports of students being tased, detained and violently arrested. The fliers also mentioned that 5.5% of the CSUN student population is made up of Black students; however, 13.4% of police stops have been on Black students.
A majority of the arrests on campus have occurred at the Manzanita Hall main entrance, where many skaters hang out and practice their tricks. One of the skaters, Diego Lopez, said this issue is personal to him and discussed how it could affect Matadors in the future.
“This should have never happened if, you know, a lot of cops wouldn’t have acted this way. Personally, one of my friends got arrested. He was one of the skaters that did,” Lopez said. “It’s a good thing that everyone’s coming out, fighting for something because we’re kind of tired of it.”
Valles’s thoughts on the arrest align with those of Lopez.
“He was not skating at all. He was holding a skateboard,” Valles said. “It should never have escalated to a point of CSUN police kneeling on a black student, unarmed, and needing him to have to go to the hospital for those injuries because they were skidded across the concrete.”
News about the arrest, CSUN’s policies and campus services have made rounds on social media, even making way onto pages meant for incoming students.
“Beforehand, I really knew nothing about the school when I came out here,” Lopez said. “Then I started to see and hear stuff about police officers and it made me even more uncomfortable seeing that whenever they pass by. I even get stared at sometimes.”
The issues Lopez has faced with police on campus were a primary reason CSUN student Shamarri Bryant also participated in the rally.
“I feel like as students, we shouldn’t be profiled about who we are and what we do, and we’re here to learn and get our education and get our degrees and graduate, not be profiled as criminals,” Bryant said.
Along with the organizers of the rally, the campus faculty in attendance demanded change after becoming aware of the issues happening. Jade Chuell, chair of Africana Studies at CSUN, provided a solution that she would like to see implemented.
“When I saw the first video of the student that was tased in housing, it reminded me of my son. I can’t have this on my campus without doing anything about it,” Chuell said. “I would love a campus that was community police versus a campus that follows a carceral system.”
