By Nasai Rivas and Justin Enriquez
This article was edited to correct the misspelled name of Rob Chlala at 7:05 p.m. on March 28.
Long Beach State students, faculty and campus organizations gathered for back-to-back rallies focusing on university divestment, budget cuts and support for undocumented students.
Students for Quality Education attended Wednesday’s march, along with the Long Beach Chapter of the California Faculty Association and La F.U.E.R.Z.A.
Tuesday’s protesters marched from the quad to Brotman Hall, opposing the university’s ties with defense contractors.
Organizers instructed demonstrators to avoid interacting with or antagonizing counter-protesters and engaging with administrators or the press. Protestors were also encouraged to cover their faces with masks.
Wednesday’s group marched from the upper quad to the front doors of the Office of the President in Brotman Hall. Once there, members taped a list of demands for President Jane Close Conoley on the office’s glass doors.
Luis Ortiz, a communication studies major and one of the media liaisons for the rally and march, said the march was powerful and unified students and clubs of different backgrounds.
“We are all united under this; we are all against budget cuts, we are all against the cutting of ethnic studies, we are all against austerity measures, we are all here for a free education and we are all here, of course, for undocumented students and our undocumented community,” Ortiz said.
Assistant Professor of Sociology and CFA Member Rob Chlala spoke with the Current before the march.
He said students are feeling targeted and threatened not only by the federal government but also administration.
“[CFA] is here to stand with them, to make them know faculty is by their side, and the campus is exactly the right place to express themselves,” Chlala said.
He said his concern is for vulnerable students. According to Chlala, students who are undocumented or have green cards or visas are in a vulnerable place due to the Trump administration.
“We still haven’t seen evidence that our university administration is actually gonna take proactive measures to protect people from that,” Chlala said. “We see a lot of general talk about ICE on campus and protecting undocumented students, but when it comes to specific action like that, we don’t see anything.”
Ortiz said he wants to make sure the college has a more robust response to ICE during the upcoming fall semester.
“[They need] to do everything they can to make sure ICE is deterred,” Ortiz said. “We need a community response team to deter ICE.”
He added it is essential for them to protest to showcase the university’s fault in failing to educate people on the university’s ICE protocol and to highlight the clampdown on “Free Palestine” student activists from the Trump administration.
Alyssa D., 20, a second-year journalism major and the group’s second media liaison, said the CSU system is cracking down on student activism on campus due to the revised Time, Place and Manner policy.
“[TPM] really infringes on our right to free speech,” Alyssa D. said.
Despite the current TPM policy, Alyssa D. said students have been calling for a rally or protests on campus for undocumented students and faculty.
“That’s why I am here today—to support them and to show that we are not gonna let admin keep us quiet,” Alyssa D. said.
According to the TPM policy, Brotman Hall—the final stop during Tuesday’s march—is a non-public space.
In an email response to the Current, Student Affairs Vice President Beth Lesen said any person believed to have violated the TPM policy will be notified.
“The university respects the rights of campus community members to engage in lawful expressive activity on campus within the rules and regulations of the viewpoint-neutral TPM policy,” Lesen said.
Ortiz said the protest was peaceful.
“We kept it peaceful; this is not a violent demonstration whatsoever. We were here because we wanted to give our demands to our president,” Ortiz said.
News Assistant Ethan Cohen contributed to this story.
