FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—STUDENTS PLAN TO PROTEST CAL POLY’S OPEN HOUSE IN

A “DAY OF ACTION” Contact: Mick Bruckner (415)-846-5961

San Luis Obispo, California—This Friday at 8am, students are planning a protest at Cal Poly’s Open
House to demonstrate to prospective students and their families that the current student body will not
accept Jeffrey Armstrong’s Administration’s continued inaction on crises afflicting our campus.

In 2012, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (Cal Poly’s Accreditor) issued a scathing
review of our administration’s efforts to address issues of racism, retention and recruitment of students of
color, as well as a culture of un-timeliness when confronting these pressing issues:
“Although the campus is committed to improving the campus climate for minority students, there
is concern that the issue of diversity as related to the campus climate has been allowed to exist for
a long time. The institution needs to quickly and aggressively address these negative effects and
actively increase the diversity of student, staff, and faculty as part of its responsibility to serve the
citizens of California,”
As the ​New York Times​ reported on April 11th, Cal Poly has not taken meaningful steps to increase the
amount of black students on campus, or reduce the number of racist incidents on campus that are now
occurring on a near monthly basis. Given that Milo Yiannopoulos is coming to campus, 12% of students
are homeless, and the recent racist events on our campus, students will take action to pressure their
administration into meaningful action. Finally, when we say crisis, ​we mean that under President
Armstrong’s Administration:

● Fees have risen ​more than 60%​ (​San Luis Obispo Tribune)
● In 2017, Cal Poly was ​ranked among the 7 worst institutions in the United States ​(out of more
than 600 institutions of higher learning) for Latinx student success (​LA Times, 2017)​
● Our Student Success Fee is the highest in the CSU system at more than​ $800 annually​ (​Cal State.
Fee and Revenue by Campus, 2017​)
● 40%​ ​of Black staff​ left the university in 2016 alone (​New Times SLO. Cal Poly Confronts its
Diversity Problem, 2016.)
● In the Fall of 2017, a Cal Poly student who was accused of sexual assault by ​more than 7​ women
walked free (​Mustang News)
● Administrators are increasing on-campus rent by ​up to 44%​ for 18/19, and rent in the newly
constructed dorms start at $1,300/month per person (​Cal Poly University Housing​).
● 1 in 4 Cal Poly students​ have seriously considered leaving, with a majority of those cases citing
a hostile campus climate among their reasoning (​Cal Poly Campus Climate Survey​, 2016)
● The population of Black students on campus has ​dropped under 1%​ with respect to the whole
student population (​Cal Poly Office of University Diversity and Inclusivity. Cal Poly
Demographics, 2014)
● 100% of our Cross Cultural Centers staff left the university in 2016 alone, citing Cal Poly
workplace, campus, and living climates as hostile (​Students for Quality Education & Cal Poly
Student Affairs)
 ● Frequently occurring racist, sexist, transphobic events that occur because our administration
fosters a culture of complicity on those vary issues
○ Blackface incident (NY Times, Washington Post, KCBX)
○ Hate Speech Wall (​SLO Tribune)
○ ‘Colonial Bros’ & “Nava-hoes” Party (​Mustang News)
● We have ​the most White students​ on campus out of any CA higher public learning institution,
despite the fact that ​13 other campuses​ are substantially larger (​New Times SLO​. ​Cal Poly
Confronts its Diversity Problem, 2016​.)
● Tenure-line faculty density has dropped to ​just 60%​--forcing nearly half of Cal Poly's faculty
into uncertain, underpaid, and exploitive labor conditions (​California Faculty Association, San
Luis Obispo)
● Cal Poly faculty remain one of the whitest, least diverse groups of educators in the state of CA
(​Cal Poly Factbook, 2014)
● The University Police Department has expanded its operations to include the militarized policing
of peaceful student protest, ​including up to 1 mile off campus​ (University Police; ​San Luis
Obispo Tribune. Cal Poly, CSU spend $55,400 on security for Yiannopoulos speech, 2017)
● There is a continued disrespect for the rights to free speech of protestors, vs. that of white
supremacists, nazis, and/or fascists on campus (​Students for Quality Education; Queer Student
Union)
● 1 in 5 students in the CSU are food insecure while 1 in 10 are homeless​--yet our
administrations are considering a tuition increase for the second year in a row, and despite
approving massive pay increases for campus administrators over the Summer (LA Times, 2017)
● An CA State Audit report singled out President Armstrong's administration out for approving
executive pay raises with zero justification--at a time when many employees have not seen raises
in years (LA Times, 2017)

WHEN
·​ ​Friday from 8am-on

WHERE
·​ ​Slack St. Parking Lot (By the Recreation Center)

WHO
·​ ​So far, the following student organizations are co-sponsoring
o​ ​ Cal Poly Democrats
o​ ​Cal Poly MEXA
o​ ​Cal Poly Queer Student Union
o​ ​Cal Poly Students for Quality Education
o​ ​Comparative Ethnic Studies Student Association
o​ ​Triota Feminist Activist Community