WEBVTT - The Humboldt State Occupation and Portland State University Library Occupations 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:02.920 All media. 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:08.200 Hey everyone, Robert Evans here and it could happen here 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:11.559 a podcast about things falling apart and sometimes putting them 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:16.080 back together. I'm writing this after flying back from Texas 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:20.560 where my Ted died, to Portland, waking up and basically 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:25.239 immediately interviewing a group of protesters in Arcada, California, at 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:29.760 the cal Poly occupation in Humboldt, and then driving to 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:34.120 Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, where there has also 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:38.040 been a campus occupation, And both of these occupations have 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.640 some stuff in common, and I wanted to talk about 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:43.360 what was happening with both of them because I think 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:46.120 it's relevant, and obviously it's relevant to what is currently 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.040 one of the larger stories going on in the country 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:53.400 right now, which is that a series of occupations on 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.280 campuses protesting the Israeli genocide and Gaza have spread to 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.320 more than one hundred schools in the United States. You 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.520 will have heard of this now. We have covered some 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.560 of this in recent episodes, particularly what was going on 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.319 in Colombia at least at the initial stages of that, 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.000 and today again I'm here to talk about two occupations. 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.920 One of them is at cal Poly Humboldt in Arcada, California, 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:20.000 and another is at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.480 As an out of side, I have lived in both 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.920 of these cities, which is peculiar. It doesn't really mean anything, 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.679 but I thought it was weird, and obviously I still 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:33.400 live in Portland. Protests started in Arcada first. On October 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.360 twenty second, twenty twenty four, students on the cal Poly 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:41.840 Humboldt also called CPH campus occupied Seamen's Hall. These students 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.399 were not members of any specific group, but we're all 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.680 acting in solidarity with GAZA, and we're inspired at least 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:52.720 partly by the solidarity encampment at Columbia University. It started 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.520 with a small number of people, about forty five or so. 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:58.800 These are a mix of students, some alumni, and a 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:03.920 few random Arcade Arcada is a pretty progressive town. You 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.800 might call it Hippi. That's generally the reputation that it has. 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.720 Campus police showed up. There was a series of negotiations, 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.000 which here means they told everybody to leave, and at 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:17.960 that point the police began escalating things. Because the Arcada 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.920 police force is pretty small, cops were called in from 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:25.080 the surrounding area, quite a few of them. There were helicopters. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.200 It's much more of it to do than this fairly 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.920 sleepy community in the Redwoods is used to having. Community 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.680 members started to show up as well because hey, something 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.000 was happening. A ride up from Crime Thinks website describes 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:41.720 what happened next quote, Police from every department in the 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.560 county showed up, including a helicopter, canine units, and off 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:48.480 duty police. Students responded by swarming them. The cops initial 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.800 plan to carry out a mass arrest was thwarted by 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.840 a series of clashes both inside and outside of the building. 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:58.320 The occupiers beat back police advances despite facing brutality unlike 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.720 anything we have seen over the last day of struggle 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.799 in Humboldt County. Again, it's a pretty sleepy place. There 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.840 were two arrests and a number of injuries. The arrests 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:11.600 were apparently quite ugly, but police were unable to clear 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:15.400 out the occupation. Barricades were thrown into place as the 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:18.280 fighting continued off and on, until a crowd of people 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:22.520 from the surrounding community, including other students and faculty, showed 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:26.600 up outside and effectively surrounded the police. After six hours, 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:30.000 the police retreated. The university declared a lockdown, and the 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:32.799 students were able to spend the next few days extending 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.240 their defenses as well upset, as well as setting up infrastructure, 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.720 including a kitchen. Early on the morning of the twenty ninth, 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:41.840 a team from It Could Happen Here sat down with 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.080 two of these students to discuss the occupation. 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:50.040 I go by Stinger online, and I have been part 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:55.840 of the occupation since I think the morning of day two. 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:01.000 I think there's been night after the pops tried to 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.120 enter the bar arcaded building and got pushed back. I 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.720 think I've been here since the morning after that. 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.520 Yeah, Blue, And what's been your history with this? 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:18.440 I came here on Tuesday morning. I just attended a 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:23.160 meeting with everyone, and I've just been here helping at 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:25.440 the MAC, mainly because I feel like that's where I'm 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:26.320 the most useful. 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:28.320 What's the MAC. 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:33.040 The MAC is the Mutual Aid kitchen. We've been handing 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:37.680 out food, and I've just been helping prepare food for 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:44.000 people and trying to let other people involved do more 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.960 things because I know I'm the most useful in the 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:52.359 MAC personally, rather than being anywhere else doing anything else. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:55.599 By the time we talked to them, the rumor mill 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.480 widely expected the police to carry out a major attempt 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.480 to clear the occupation that night. As I write this 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:05.239 ten thirteen pm PST on the twenty ninth of April, 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.560 local police have just given Siemens Hall a dispersal order. 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.880 So we'll see how that goes. Hey, everyone, Robert here, 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.280 we saw how it goes. Police cracked down, arrested a 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.240 bunch of people and ended the occupation. We will talk 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.720 more about that a little at the end of the episode. 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.479 But because their initial efforts to clear out the occupation failed, 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:25.960 police have had to spend nearly a week watching and 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:27.719 waiting as students dig in. 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.200 Yeah, police have not tried to like actively push us 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.520 out like we've seen on other campuses, where like they've 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.440 totally like rated and like worn down tents and everything. 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.159 And I think we also, I think a big part 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:46.400 of it is like logistically, we're in a small city 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:52.640 and we don't really have the police force necessary, Yeah, 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:57.120 which is why they've been trying to call you know. Unfortunately, 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:02.479 then tried to call officers from other places because especially 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.120 like I feel like in the evenings especially, we have 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:08.960 a lot of people both from the community and students 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:14.560 on campus who have been occupying the quad. But what's 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.440 so funny is that our main intention was not like 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:21.080 the original intention was not to barricade that building. It 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.840 was just going to be occupied, not barricaded. But because 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.840 of police actions, I feel like we've actually stepped up 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:29.839 more so. They kind of shot themselves on the foot 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:30.520 with that one. 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:33.240 This is a pattern we've seen a few times in 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:37.200 recent years. In late twenty twenty, Garrison and I reported 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:40.160 from an eviction defense at the famous Red House in Portland. 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:43.480 The basic idea is that local protesters were trying to 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:46.520 stop police from serving an eviction during the pandemic. There 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.200 was a clash outside the house and some arrests, but 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:51.719 police pulled back when protesters were still on the ground 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.279 and in numbers. Said protesters began to fortify the area 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.279 around the house and eventually the entire neighborhood. By the 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:00.480 time the police realized what was going on on, they 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.040 had a nightmare on their hands, an occupation that would 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:06.919 have been impossible to clear without significant violence. The end 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.920 result of the situation was that the city government essentially 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.800 negotiated an end to what was happening rather than just 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.640 sending the police back into evict residence. There is much 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.000 more to the whole situation than that. This is something 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:21.680 people still get angry about because the patriarch of the 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:24.400 family at Red House was a weirdo sovereign citizen type. 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.160 But the goal at the time was to stop evictions 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.440 during the pandemic, and the tactics of the day worked. 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.640 The cops backed off, the city came to the negotiating table. 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.080 It was a successful action, whatever you think about the 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:41.040 individuals involved in it. After the call that Garrison Mia 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:43.640 and myself had with those Humboldt students and we will 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:45.840 hear more from them later, I got a message from 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.440 a source that an occupation was also brewing on the 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.400 Portland State University campus, or rather that it was going on, 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.040 and folks were worried things were about to escalate. But 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:01.520 don't you escalate until you've listened to these ads. Anyway, 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:16.240 here they are, We're back. Actions at Portland State University 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.240 started on Thursday the twenty fifth, and it was initially 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:23.000 pretty simple. One tent and one banner strung between trees 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:27.040 in front of the Branford Price Miller Library steps social 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.320 media did its thing. Once this first tent was up, 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.160 and the encampment slowly grew to maybe half a dozen 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:36.000 tents by midnight. At around one twenty am, the police 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.160 swept the encampment. Only a few people were awake and 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:43.640 less than twenty people were present against maybe forty riot officers. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.080 The police pushed people out of the encampment. They went 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.960 straight for the supply tent and took everything, loading medical equipment, food, etc. 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.640 Into City of Portland trucks and hauling it away. It 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:56.760 was a bad night for a lot of people. But 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:59.360 what I gleaned from interviewing some of those folks was 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.440 that they had learned one crucial lesson, which was that 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.240 Portland police weren't willing to fuck with people or property 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.520 that was sitting on the PSU steps. This is probably 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:15.319 a jurisdictional thing. School properties the responsibility of the PSU 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:19.920 Campus Police PPB could police the park outside, but either 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.480 couldn't or just didn't want to be arced in dealing 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.280 with the complications that might be caused by going into 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.760 school property themselves. So the school had to deal with 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.800 the unenviable complication of the fact that these were their 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:35.800 students protesting at a famously progressive school and having their 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.480 cops cleared them out, especially if it caused violence or 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:42.760 somebody got seriously hurt, would be a real pr headache. 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:47.240 The administration at Humboldt University and famously progressive ARCATA ran 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.199 into a similar problem. In the days after the police 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.800 backed away from their initial confrontation, students developed a list 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.360 of demands by consensus. Here's one of our sources from 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:01.240 the Humboldt occupation again and their description of the demands 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.319 have been cut together from a longer interview. Some crosstalk 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.439 has been edited out to make things flow a bit 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.360 more clearly. Anyway, here's those demands. 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:14.800 Okay, So students, with the mediation of faculty, have reached 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:19.760 out to administration in hopes of re engaging negotiations. So 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.680 we would like administration to agree to the following through demands. 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:28.120 One de escalator, we demand the immediate removal of police 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:32.640 from university campus. We also demand the immediate re enrollment 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:35.320 of students who have been suspended. And it probably is 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:40.120 to not suspend, resuspend, or expel any student protesters as 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:45.040 a result of these accusations, because they were claiming you 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:49.120 know that we had committed property damage and trespassing it 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:50.920 and things like that, and that was a lot of 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.960 the reasons that they gave for suspending us, like in 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:59.079 the email we received about interim suspension. Two was diabest. 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.880 We demand that the Kalipoly Humboldt Foundation commits to an 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:07.000 audit and subsequent divestment from any funds related to Israel, 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.840 Israeli products, or Israeli companies, and this includes those that 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:15.000 own factories on stolen Palestinian land in Israel. There are 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.920 four specific funds that at the minimum, we demand the 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:27.680 divestment from within the next six months. These were TILCX, DFSTX, 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:37.960 fe UPX, and DOODFX. And we did research into these 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:43.560 holdings that these funds have and how the companies that 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.800 they may have holdings in are connected to Israel. So, 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:52.199 for example, TILCX, their top three holdings are in Qualcomm, 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:57.360 Wells Fargo, and Chubb. Qualcom is an information technology company 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.720 that does the majority of its technology development in Israel, 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:05.880 so they have like factories there and that's kind of 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:11.240 where they develop their smartphone chips and tracking intelligence, which 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:12.959 is kind of like two of the main things that 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:18.000 they work on and sell, and then Wells Fargo was 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.920 part of a five hundred million dollar loan deal with 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:25.439 multiple other lenders that support that was supporting Elbet Systems, 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:30.880 which is an Israeli military weapons manufacturer. So those are 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.920 like two of the big ones just from the first 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.760 fund that we had looked into. And our third demand 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:42.480 was declare in solidarity with universities across the globe and 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:46.320 for all Palestinian people, including their martyers and refugees. We 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.840 demand a ceasefire statement from KLi Pally Humble calling for 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:54.000 an immediate and permanent ceasepire in Palestine, and we encourage 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:58.200 all other California State universities and universities of California to 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:02.240 do the same. As we were writing this, it was 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:09.160 we found out that the faculty administration had released a 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.599 ce spire statement, I believe, but the actual like university 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:17.320 like admin had it like the whole university admin, but 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:22.160 like the faculty had released a c spire statement. Faculty specifically, 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:26.000 I know there's there's definitely faculty that have There's some 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.640 faculty who have been with us since day one, like 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.440 camping out with everyone since day one, and it's like 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.840 a lot of the faculty. We like, we are totally 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.760 comfortable putting our trust in like some of these faculty, 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:42.960 Like if there was an emergency, like I would call them, 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.440 you know, like if there was an emergency on campus 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.920 where like I was about to be arrested, I'm like, yeah, 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.240 I'm gonna call up this like professor. Like they have 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.280 been and they have been like trying to you know, 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:58.160 update us with whatever they hear from Admin. But just 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:01.200 in like the past few days, we've actually kind of 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:05.040 discerned that upper admin has sort of cut off contact 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.240 with lower admin and faculty. And this is something that 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:12.120 we talked about with faculty members as well. Because of 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:16.440 the significant faculty support that we've been receiving, Administration is 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.840 literally just not telling faculty anything anymore. 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:22.200 Yeah, it really seems like it's turned into just this 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:26.520 pure conflict between everyone who is part of the process 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.680 of an education fighting against the admin who are not 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:31.840 part of that process, who are trying to stop everyone 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:32.440 with cops. 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.920 Back in Portland, that first failed encampment brought more people 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.280 out the next day, Friday, the twenty sixth, and by noon, 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:42.600 more tents and a few banners had been set up. 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.960 Student organizations had put together lists of demands. Now these 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.960 demands have varied and have been edited a few times 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:54.800 after long democratic consensus sessions by people present. The list 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.400 I was presented with when I showed up on Monday 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:01.120 included three demands. Number one, p you should release a 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.840 statement condemning the genocide of Palestinian people with weapons provided 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.200 by the US. Number two, the university should end the 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.360 sale of Israeli products on campus and any programs that 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.960 involves inding students, employees, or faculty to Israel. And number three, 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:19.400 the board of trustees should terminate all relationships with Boeing 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:23.240 and other companies complicit in the ongoing genocide. Their list 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.920 included Leopold, an Oregon based company who makes rifle scopes, 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:31.400 but also companies like Intel and Hewlett Packard. Boeing was 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.520 the company I heard reference most by protesters. The aerospace company, 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.320 which is involved in the manufacture and design of just 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:43.120 so many weapons, has a partnership with Portland State University. 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.680 Later on Friday, the same day that these lists of 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:49.560 demands started coming together, the school president and cut announced 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:53.440 a pause to the school's relationship with Boeing to address 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:59.800 these protester demands. Precisely. What pausing this relationship means is unclear, 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.040 and a lot of the people I talked to felt 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:05.960 like it essentially meant nothing, but cut wrote quote, PSU 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.640 will host a forum at which these concerns can be 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:12.120 carefully framed and debated. We will organize a two hour 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.760 moderated debate in May to include faculty and student voices, 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.760 so you know whatever that means. By late in the 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.720 day Friday, media had started showing up in numbers to 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.560 report on the occupation, which was still quite small, but 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.120 bigger ones were happening all over the country, and if 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:31.520 your local news you want to do anything you can 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.800 to tie your area into whatever the big story is nationwide, 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.680 so you know, good excuse to show up. There was 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:41.080 also some conflict between local student groups at this point 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:45.360 and unaffiliated groups of activists, some of whom were also students, 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:49.240 over whether or not to keep occupying over the weekend 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:52.960 and keep attempting to you know, keep an occupation in 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:57.200 place despite police crackdowns, or to save their strength for 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:01.040 a new concerted push on Monday. At any rate, some 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.240 people stayed, and by seven pm that night Friday night, 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.840 the Portland Police Bureau showed back up in full riot gear. 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.639 Park rangers told protesters to exit the park area, and 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:16.000 a stand off ensued. While some protesters confronted police head on. 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.920 A smaller group of activists used this as a distraction 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.760 to move a number of tents onto the library steps, 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:24.960 having noticed that PPB didn't seem to be willing to 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.399 go directly onto campus property. Once this was done, the 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:32.080 folks confronting the riot line gradually pulled back to the steps. 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.679 The police seemed confused or at least put out by this. 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:38.560 They left for a while, then returned briefly to cut 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.720 down the banners hung on the trees. I was told 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:43.840 a number of people mentioned this kind of laughingly when 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:45.919 I was around that the way in which the police 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.560 justified this was that a recent anti camping public camping 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:53.920 measure meant to target the homeless specified that the kind 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.240 of thing that a banner hung again like Basically, the 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:59.439 fact that the banner touched trees in two different areas, 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.080 or like touched two different trees meant that it would 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:04.120 count it as a tent, and so they were allowed 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.119 to take it down. It all sounded pretty silly to me, 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.520 but students and others on campus property in the library 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.960 were left to barricade the area around the library at will. 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:18.200 They started with palettes brought by an anonymous benefactor. Both 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.400 sides of the staircases into the library were initially blocked. 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:25.600 This only lasted until Saturday morning, when Anne cud, president 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:28.800 of the university since August of twenty twenty three, visited 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:32.720 the encampment. Different protesters I have talked to related this 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:36.600 event in different ways. Some described her visit as essentially chill. 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.360 Others described Anne as quite angry and even threatening them. 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.440 I was not there. The end result was an agreement, though, 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:48.600 If protesters allowed students to continue to have access to 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.440 the doorway into the library so students could still use 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.640 the library, PSU wouldn't send in their cops or call 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:58.080 in the city cops to clear out the occupation. After 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:02.159 what one source described as much heated discussion, protesters agreed 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:06.200 to this arrangement. Now, variations of stuff like this are 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.040 common in occupations in schools that get this far. School 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:13.720 faculty are often sympathetic to student actions, or at least 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.200 to the students taking part in them, and supporting crackdowns 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:21.399 is dicey for the administration at Humboldt State University. The 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:25.399 administration attempted to de escalate and eventually euthanize the movement 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:28.159 by trying to provide a safety valve, a way for 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.720 students who'd had enough to leave, along with the suggestion 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.400 but not the actual legally binding promise that they wouldn't 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.240 be punished if they did. And here's another clip from 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.080 that interview. I understand that the school even set up 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.639 basically a booth where you could come and officially like 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.560 de register yourself from the protests in order to not 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:51.199 get expelled or something like that. Is that a like 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:55.520 I think you're It was unclear to me from what 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.959 I read like exactly how that system was supposed to function, 0:19:59.040 --> 0:19:59.960 but it seemed kind of shait. 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:03.639 So they wanted us to So they set up a 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.000 table by one of the exits, and they wanted us 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:12.000 to like give them like our information, and they were like, 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.359 if you do this, you won't get immediately arrested. 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:19.280 But keep in mind, they said, not immediately we arrested. 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.919 And they even clarified like in their alert about this. 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:25.480 They were like, by the way, this doesn't protect you 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.520 from any future consequences, So it was like, why would 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.840 we do that? Then? What is that doing for any 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.680 of us? I don't think a single person took that opportunity. 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:37.640 Back in Portland. After the detunt with the school administration, 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:41.199 things continued awkwardly but smoothly. For the next day or so. 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.840 Protesters continued to fortify the library defenses while students entered 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.480 and exited and used it at will, although the school 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:51.920 did shut it down early on Monday. In the meantime, 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.160 protesters use the small space available to them to set 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:58.960 up minimal infrastructure as an humble, small kitchen tent was 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:01.119 put up, along with a large dra medical tent, a 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:04.480 designated smoking area tent, and an art station for people 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:08.080 to make signs to hang from the barricades. Donations began 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:11.200 coming in on Saturday night and flooded in on Sunday, 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:15.120 the point that by Monday protesters had stopped accepting donations 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:17.320 of a lot of stuff like food and water, but 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:20.359 also things like batteries and generators because they just didn't 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:23.320 have room to take any more of them. During these 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.639 weekend days and nights, those of the encampment discussed demands, 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:30.080 their plans, and strategy for the future. One topic of 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:33.919 discussion involved the houseless. Would local houseless people be welcome 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:36.359 inside the encampment and would they be welcomed to some 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:40.080 of the donated resources. The ultimate decision, and I hear 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.560 that this was not a particularly controversial one, was yes. 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:44.359 Now. 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:46.919 I should also note here that the Humboldt students we 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:51.560 talked with claimed that their school's treatment of houseless residents earlier, 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:53.840 like a couple of years ago, was one of the 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:58.000 inciting incidents of this occupation. Obviously, the genocide in Gaza 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:00.920 was the spark and purpose for why why the occupation 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:03.920 it Humboldt happened, and why this occupation at PSU happened. 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:06.479 But nothing happens in a vacuum. And I wanted to 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:09.640 include this bit from the interview because I think it's interesting. 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:14.280 We're joking that this is like the third strike for administration, 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:18.119 because in twenty twenty two, the La Times released an 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:23.440 article about how administration was kicking homeless students off campus 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:29.480 for living in their vehicles. Jesus, and I believe our university, 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:31.920 out of all the cal States, has the highest rate 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:37.800 of homeless students. Yeah, and so this kind of this 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:41.040 outrage a lot of people, including people on campus. We 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:44.560 actually had a few days encampment on campus for that too, 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:48.000 I believe, and I feel like that never really got 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:53.200 the It got partially resolved, but Admin was like really 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:58.320 fighting against all the possible options because there was like 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:02.680 a couple of people arguing that, like we keep in mind, 0:23:02.720 --> 0:23:04.800 I don't even think these people were from campus, but 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:08.040 apparently the two people like filed complaints about how the 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:11.840 people are living in their cars were like messy or something, 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:16.959 and so one of our requests was like, Okay, maybe 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:20.280 like we could get a few more gumpsters or trash 0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:23.840 cans in the area where people are living. Yeah, And 0:23:24.080 --> 0:23:27.960 I'm just totally fought back against that, and so that 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:31.159 was like what we're jokingly calling, like, oh, that was 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:34.160 like strike one and then strike two. 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:37.480 We were saying, is the faculty strike that happened earlier 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:40.960 I think this semester that was I think all over 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:43.360 the state, But it really only lasted like one day, 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:48.280 despite the momentum for possibly lasting longer than that. And 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:52.400 Admin wanted like sent out an email saying like if 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:57.080 your faculty isn't holding classes, put their names here, and 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:00.760 obviously all of us were like, what are you talking 0:24:00.920 --> 0:24:03.639 like you want us to, like, you're asking us to 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:07.880