A vigil and march for Palestinians killed during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas on Cal Poly Humboldt’s campus drew around 150 students today, who walked a peaceful half mile without incident despite taking up all of Harpst Street and the northbound lane of LK Wood for about 15 minutes. 

Organized by the Humboldt chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a few dozen students met for two hours in the Art Quad for a vigil before several speakers addressed the steadily growing crowd, which swelled to around 100 people by noon.

The speakers included SDS organizer Rick Toledo and Humboldt California Faculty Association President Ryder Dschida, who both lamented the tens of thousands of people killed since the war started two years ago today and called on the university to be transparent about any investments they might have in Israeli institutions or in weapons companies.

“America has provided over $1 billion in military aid to the Israeli government and [Israeli leader Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government’s ongoing so-called War in Gaza,” Dschida said. “Beginning on the seventh of October, 67,000 of Palestinians have been killed in this ruthless genocide…As a peace-loving person, I cannot and will not accept this. I cannot and will not support a genocide and its supporters.”

Toledo also blasted the university’s administration for denying the organizers permission to meet in the Lower Quad (the section near Library Circle downhill from the Depot), claiming it was because it was too close to a Jewish student organization’s sukkah (a temporary hut, part of celebrating the holiday Sukkot) located in the Upper Quad. Toledo said CPH officials had previously permitted them to assemble there, but later revoked their blessing. (CPH denies this.) Toledo said he felt it was “viewpoint discrimination.”

“I don’t see a conflict, and we don’t have a problem with Jewish religious events. We’re not here to disrupt a Jewish religious event,” Toledo said in an interview today with the Outpost. “We’re just remembering lives lost in Palestine. That was really offensive to us.”

CPH spokesperson JoAnn Yamani denied that there was any bias involved in the decision and said it was because the SDS didn’t request to use the quad two weeks out from the event, their content-neutral Time, Place, and Manner policies, and because the quad was already in use today. 

“Peaceful expression has long been a part of the University’s culture, reflecting its values of open and respectful dialogue,” reads a statement from Yamani. “Cal Poly Humboldt wholeheartedly supports the constitutional rights of free expression and assembly, and encourages open and respectful discussions, inviting everyone to share their perspectives in ways that contribute positively to the University’s shared learning environment.”

Students who weren’t marching or chanting along with the cries to free Palestine were a little more lukewarm about the spectacle; one woman who had just emerged from the Depot food court with her meal when the protestors arrived at the end of their march wasn’t all that interested.

“Bruh,” she said to a friend while unwrapping her sandwich. “I just want to eat my lunch.”