Masked pro-Palestine, pro-Teamster activists vacate Nelson Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt

Masked student activists occupied Nelson Hall East at Cal Poly Humboldt Friday morning, locking the building’s main entrances and staging a sit-in inside a meeting room; campus officials said roughly 20 people were inside while an activist at the scene estimated "about a couple of dozen." People inside were reportedly free to leave even as the university secured entry to the building.

The group’s stated demands included "divest from war and genocide, implement a true sanctuary policy and honor Teamster raises." Protesters focused on an immediate logistical demand as well, chanting "Unlock the bathrooms!" while occupying the meeting room, according to on‑scene accounts.

Campus communications later referenced an email from Aileen Yoo, Cal Poly Humboldt’s director of news and information, as an update; the content of that email was not provided in materials released about the incident. Campus officials also told reporters that the university locked the building’s main entrances during the occupation; officials’ names and which office ordered the lockdown were not disclosed.

A Facebook post from the Lumberjack, the campus student newspaper, showed a cache of food and drink delivered to the students inside Nelson Hall East, though the post did not detail who brought the supplies or their contents. Photographer Dezmond Remington documented the scene outside Nelson Hall, where Ryder Dschida, a history professor and president of the local chapter of the California Faculty Association, was present and said he was there to observe.

The occupation in Nelson Hall East came after a meeting had been scheduled with Cal Poly Humboldt administration earlier that morning, and it followed the campus’ 2024 Siemens Hall occupation, which lasted a little over a week. No arrests, injuries or property damage were reported in the information made available about the Nelson Hall action, and there were no explicit accounts of campus police entering the building in the materials provided.

For context, a separate incident at the University of Chicago was cited by observers: that university said masked protesters unlawfully occupied the Institute of Politics building at approximately 4:40 p.m. on a Friday, attempted to bar the entrance, damaged University property and ignored police directives before officers entered and protesters exited. That episode was presented as a distinct event and not part of the Humboldt action.

Cal Poly Humboldt’s public communications and campus officials provided basic operational details about the Nelson Hall occupation but have not released a full timeline, the content of Yoo’s emailed update, or whether the university will pursue disciplinary or legal measures.