Cops clad in all-black riot gear. Dozens of demonstrators stacking desks, tables and anything dense into beaver-dam barricades. Halls and walkways decked out in endless graffiti. That was what Cal Poly Humboldt’s campus looked like last spring, and the California State University is trying to avoid more incidents like it by revising their Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) restrictions on free speech.

It’s proving controversial with professors and students, and many are furious about the changes.

TPM restrictions are limits on free speech imposed by the government that apply to everyone, regardless of the message. Examples include banning the use of bullhorns during protests, or capping the number of protestors at an event.

They’re not new to CSU campuses. However, the updated restrictions are more heavy-handed than in years past, banning things such as signs with sticks on them, using chalk for protest messaging, and wearing masks or scarfs that could obscure faces at protests. Protestors also have to identify themselves to university officials if asked.

The changes come the semester after a series of pro-Palestine protests rocked many CSU campuses, especially Humboldt’s, where activists barricaded themselves inside an administrative building and occupied the main quad for a week. Camping and demonstrating overnight are also now banned, as is barrier-making.

Cal Poly Humboldt has its own set of TPM rules that have been updated for the Fall 2024 semester. Campus will be closed to anyone who doesn’t live on campus between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., unless they have written permission, are on university business or are attending an event. Humboldt has also classified every building and room on campus as to whether or not protesting is allowed there and if it’s open to members of the public.

Students and members of the public alike can be punished for breaking these rules. Students could be subject to suspension, expulsion and loss of financial aid, or be barred from entering campus. Non-students who violate the policy will be “held accountable to the full extent of the University’s authority under existing laws, regulations and University policies.”

The new TPM restrictions do not yet apply to faculty, as negotiations with the California Faculty Association union haven’t been completed.

The California Faculty Association plans to take a hard line against the new policies during the negotiation process. The field representative for the Cal Poly Humboldt chapter of the CFA, Maureen Loughran, told the Outpost that the CFA wasn’t consulted before the new policies were put into place.

Like Loughran, many CFA members find the new policies Orwellian and worry about how they’ll be enforced.

“There already were Time, Place, and Manner policies in place, and they seemed to be working just fine,” Loughran said. “These new draconian measures really weren’t necessary.”

“We really fear that it’s not going to be equitably enforced,” Loughran said. “Basically, they’re going to come down on those they don’t like, whose speech they don’t like, and they’re going to permit it for those whose speech they do condone. We went on strike in January, right? ‘Oh, we don’t want the faculty to go on strike. Then we can just enact our Time, Place, and Manner thing and say, oh, but they have placards on sticks. Now we’re going to come down on them with the full force of enforcement and police control.’ But, the sorority is tabling in the quad, and they have cute little placards on sticks that have their sorority letters — no problem whatsoever, right?”

Tony Silvaggio, the president of the Humboldt CFA chapter and a sociology professor, agreed.

“It’s really more restrictive and more oppressive than other policy iterations,” Silvaggio said. “When it comes to this policy, a lot of our union activities, [such as] the strike in January, could certainly be limited. So we really want to make sure that we’re going to challenge this.”

As part of the new policies, the California State University system is dividing $2 million among its campuses. Cal Poly Humboldt is getting $75,000.

“The one-time funds are required to be used for educational programs and activities that support the balance among free speech activities, the educational purpose of the University, and campus safety,” Humboldt said in a statement to the Outpost. “Funds should be utilized with a focus on campus-wide learning and professional development opportunities that address campus climate, enhancing a culture of care, and other areas that support student development, co-curricular engagement, or teaching and learning within the context of the Time, Place, and Manner policy.”

Part of that allocation is going towards a “community engagement team,” a volunteer squad meant to de-escalate situations that might cause “large-scale interruption of campus operations”, according to Humboldt. Every CSU campus has formed one this semester.

The university claims its team is made up of 24 faculty, staff and students, but a list on their website shows only 15 different administrators.

The fact that there may not be any professors on a team whose purpose is to pacify students is something that enrages Silvaggio.

“There are no faculty on that protest response team, just administration,” Silvaggio said. “No one who was involved in the de-escalation of the protests last spring is on this team…it’s infuriating…I can’t see this as anything other than a snitch team or a narc team.”

For its part, Cal Poly Humboldt says that if anyone hears about an event that violates the TPM policy, they are encouraged to talk with them about it and inform them of the rules. They are welcome to inform the university, but Humboldt says it’s only for monitoring purposes. Any punishment would come later.

“Enforcement and consequences to policy violation will depend on the situation,” Humboldt said in the statement. “The first priority is to educate about the policy and de-escalate any tense situations in the moment to bring immediate situations to a calm resolution.”

Why are so many faculty opposed to these measures, if all they’re meant to do is keep campus livable?

“No faculty member wants to be in our classroom not being able to teach their class,” Loughran said. “But I would say that there’s plenty of things that aren’t protests that are very loud happening on the campuses that prevent them from teaching, such as leaf blowers, people doing groundskeeping or construction. So there’s already things that don’t fit into the templates. It’s a short-term fix. There’s no real problem. This one moment in time, there was something that happened. We shouldn’t create restrictions and policies in place that will last long-term that really aren’t necessary and really could damage academic freedoms and liberties on campus.”

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The CSU TPM policy is here. Humboldt’s free speech policies are here.