The Cal Poly Humboldt campus in Northern California has closed after several student protesters occupied a building Monday night.
The campus said it would be closed through Wednesday. Several pro-Palestinian student protesters entered Siemens Hall on Monday evening and have refused to leave. Local media reports say that chairs and other furniture have been stacked just inside of entrances to the building.
All in-person classes and activities were changing to a remote version when possible, the campus said, and students were advised by the administration to check with their professors or other staff about the status of their classes and activities.
The protest is similar to those happening at colleges across the country in response to Israel’s invasion of Gaza, which happened after Hamas conducted a surprise attack on Oct. 7, killing around 1,400 Israelis and taking hundreds of hostages. Since then, more than 33,000 Palestinians have died and tens of thousands have been injured.
The student protesters are demanding that the university “disclose all holdings” with Israel, cut ties with Israeli universities, “divest from all ties” to Israel including companies involved “in the occupation of Palestine,” drop all charges and attacks on student organizers, and call for a ceasefire and end to the “occupation of Palestine.”
Around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, the university said the students had barricaded themselves inside the building and announced the campus closure. Since then, the university has disabled key card access and limited access to several buildings nearby.
Cal Poly Humboldt is part of the California State University and is located in Arcata, about 300 miles northwest of Sacramento.
