This ACF petition was created to send a letter to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo President Jeffrey Armstrong and Administrators.

ACF-Cal Poly SLO Calls on President Armstrong to Condemn Antisemitic Harassment
Urge Cal Poly’s leadership to enforce the university’s Time, Place, and Manner policies, investigate threats against Jewish students, and publicly affirm those students’ right to gather safely on campus.

Dear President Armstrong, Ms. Haft, Dr. Makekau, Mr. Hughes, Vice President Weinstein, Vice President Harris, and Chief Plastino:

On behalf of Alums for Campus Fairness and the undersigned alumni and supporters of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, we urge you to respond publicly and decisively to the disruption of a Jewish and pro-Israel student event and the harassment that has followed.

On Sunday, August 30, Mustangs United for Israel (MUFI) and Chabad of SLO hosted an on-campus event featuring two wounded Israel Defense Forces (IDF) veterans. Nine masked protesters entered the classroom and disrupted the program; Cal Poly Police removed them for violating the university’s Time, Place, and Manner policy before the event could continue. In the days since, MUFI’s Instagram account was hacked, and Jewish and pro-Israel students and organizations have received threatening messages. 

We appreciate the security presence that allowed the event to proceed, but the university’s responsibility does not end there. Cal Poly rightly protects the right to protest ideas and speakers one disagrees with. Those protections do not extend to shutting down another group’s event or intimidating students because of their identities or viewpoints.

Cal Poly has told Congress, its alumni, and its own community that it takes antisemitism seriously and is working to improve the campus climate. Those commitments are measured not by what the university says in testimony, but by what it does when Jewish students on its own campus are targeted. We therefore urge you to:

• Publicly condemn the disruption of Sunday’s event, and make clear that the right to protest does not include the right to shut down another student organization’s lawful program.
• Follow through on the policy violations your own officers identified. Confirm that those violations have been referred for student conduct review, that the same standard will apply to every group regardless of viewpoint, and, where those responsible concealed their identities, how the university will nonetheless hold them accountable.
• Publicly affirm Cal Poly’s support for Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel members of the campus community and their right to gather, invite speakers, and express their views without intimidation.
• Revisit the decision not to investigate the threats reported to Cal Poly Police. We are told the report was closed for lack of a "sufficiently direct" threat. We ask that Public Safety review that determination and work with Hillel, Chabad, and MUFI on a threat assessment.

Jewish students should not have to choose between participating openly in Jewish and pro-Israel life at Cal Poly and feeling safe on their own campus. Cal Poly can protect free expression for everyone, enforce its policies consistently, and stand with Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel members of the Mustang community when they are targeted — and it should say so publicly.

Sincerely,
[The Name and Cal Poly SLO Affiliation of Signers]