BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- Cal Poly Pomona canceled its upcoming job fair scheduled for September 18-19 due to backlash against the participation of a Customs and Border Protection recruiter, following significant student protest.
- Interim President Iris Levine stated the postponement allows for thoughtful reformatting of the event based on community feedback; the CBP has attended job fairs at the university since 2017.
- Career Center Director Tracee Passeggi reported receiving 200-250 emails protesting CBP's involvement, highlighting concerns of the predominantly Latino/Hispanic student body.
- Student and faculty groups expressed disappointment with the administration's stance on federal employer participation, emphasizing safety and the need for resources for marginalized communities.
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona decided to cancel an upcoming campus job fair this past week because a recruiter from Customs and Border Protection was slated to be in attendance.
The school has approximately 28,000 students, most of whom are Latino/Hispanic.
In a letter to the campus community, Interim President Iris Levine said the event scheduled for September 18-19 will be “postponed” in order to “allow [officials] to thoughtfully reformat these events in response to student and community feedback.”
The CBP has been part of “almost” every Cal Poly Pomona job fair since 2017, according to CalMatters. Levine did note the school “must operate in accordance with applicable laws,” and as such allow federal employers such as CBP at “career-related activities.”
Career Center Director Tracee Passeggi said she received between 200-250 emails between August 21 and 25 “protesting the presence of immigration law enforcement at the job fair.” But some were “disappointed” about the cancellation, she noted.
Passeggi said no new date has been established for the fair, but plans should be “finalized” by the end of next month.
Billy Gallagher, the school’s California Faculty Association senior field representative, said the “hyper-vigilance” about immigration enforcement “makes sense” as relevant agencies have been “using racial criteria in their arrests in the Los Angeles area.”
“There’ve been arrests, U.S. citizens swept up,” Gallagher, a member of the CFA’s Palestine, Arab, and Muslim Caucus, said. “At this point, it’s hard to tell even who’s who in some of these raids, so there was definitely concern among faculty for sure.”
The CFA had issued several related demands to the California State University system earlier this year, which was updated in July to include that organizations like CBP not be permitted to participate in campus job fairs.
Cal Poly Political Science Department Chair Mario Guerrero shared Gallagher’s concerns, saying the campus reaction to the presence of CBP was “sensible” as “worry over immigration law enforcement […] tapped into wider fears about those federal agents entering campus and arresting students, faculty or staff.”
The group Students for Quality Education, a “subsidiary” of the CFA, ripped President Levine for saying federal employers must be allowed to participate in the job fair: “Disappointed once again in administration, ignoring the safety and needs of their campus population — while claiming their hands are tied.”
According to its website, the SQE demands that police departments be defunded, and that subsequent investments be made in “affirming, life-giving resources & spending for Black people, Indigenous people, all people of color, and all people disproportionately harmed by policing & the carceral system.”
It also demands funding for various “specialized resource centers” dedicated to “different marginalized groups on campus,” more mental health counselors, and “free higher education.”
Cal State University spokeswoman Amy Bentley-Smith told CalMatters that system schools “should try to ‘mitigate’ community concerns” when organizations like CBP are slated to appear on campus.
