Cal Poly Humboldt Paid Over $90,000 for Security After Student Occupation

Cal Poly Humboldt spent more than $90,000 to hire a security firm to guard Nelson Hall for six days after a pro-Palestine occupation forced its closure in late February, public records show.

Around 20 people seized Nelson Hall on Cal Poly Humboldt's campus on a Friday, holding it until the wee hours of the next morning. The three core demands driving the occupation were a true sanctuary campus policy for undocumented students and staff, divestment from Israel, war, and harmful border technologies, and advocacy for striking staff seeking honored raises at the CSU level.

The protest was the second time in less than two years that Nelson Hall became the site of a student takeover. Cal Poly Humboldt hadn't sold any of the investments the protesters wanted them to sell since the Siemens Hall occupation in 2024. Communication between the pro-divestment students and the administration broke down when Acting Vice President of Administration and Finance Michael Fisher and a couple other administrators met with them earlier that day to talk about their demands.

The occupiers ended up leaving at 2 a.m. after police officers showed up and told them to disperse, with officers carrying .68 caliber pepper ball guns. In the aftermath, Cal Poly Humboldt arrested one activist and handed three students interim suspensions connected to the Nelson Hall occupation.

The $90,000-plus security bill now stands as one of the most concrete financial consequences of the February protest. At a university situated in Arcata and counted among just three polytechnic campuses in the California State University system, that sum represents a significant unplanned expenditure drawn from institutional funds. The university had its own University Police Department on campus throughout the incident, making the decision to layer in a separate private contractor for six consecutive days a notable escalation in response costs.

President Richard Carvajal had issued a statement before the occupation outlining existing university policy, noting that Cal Poly Humboldt does not share immigration status information without legal compulsion, does not voluntarily allow ICE into non-public areas without a judicial warrant, and that University Police will not detain or assist in investigating individuals based on immigration status alone. Students for a Democratic Society called that statement insufficient, and the occupation of Nelson Hall followed days later.

Whether the university will seek to recover any of the security costs from those disciplined in connection with the occupation has not been disclosed.