Who was arrested during the recent protest at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo?

May 24, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

For the second time this year, a pro-Palestinian protest at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo resulted in multiple arrests. During Thursday’s protest, officers arrested eight people, including four students, a professor and three people unaffiliated with the campus.

At 7:15 a.m., several callers reported a group of students blocking Cal Poly’s California Boulevard entrance, according to Matt Lazier, Cal Poly’s director of media relations. Assisted by SLO police officers and SLO County sheriff’s deputies, Cal Poly police officers arrived to find wooden barricades and three students chained together in the street. In total, 15 to 20 people were involved in the protest.

“Police issued a dispersal order, which some protesters failed to comply with, resulting in arrests,” Lazier said.

Six of those arrested were taken to the San Luis Obispo County Jail, while two were arrested, cited and released.

Jay Erker

• Jay Erker, 44, lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, charged with obstructing an officer
• Mohamed Cheour, 25, charged with resisting arrest, obstructing the movement of a person and two offenses related to the removal of a person from police custody
• Alejandro Bupara, 29, is charged with participating in an unlawful assembly despite a dispersal order
• Jade Pinney, 28, is charged with attending an unlawful assembly despite a dispersal order
• Theodore Lee, 21, charged with obstruction of freedom of movement
• Alexis Barksdale, 24, charged with obstruction of freedom of movement
• Barbara Wildman, charged with obstructing a roadway
• Henry Miller, charged with blocking a road

The protesters’ demands included withdrawing from all companies that profit from the war, dropping all charges against protesting students and supporting a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

“With regard to divestment, Cal Poly is not involved in boycotts/divestments in specific countries. International boycotts and divestments are inherently political and often involve complex and historical geopolitical issues,” said Lazier. “The role of the university is to serve as a content-neutral space for the free exchange of ideas, thoughts and discourse; the university is not a political body and its role is not to develop public policy and foreign policy strategies.”

Furthermore, Cal Poly administration does not have the authority to drop charges brought against protesters by the SLO County District Attorney’s Office.

Bupara already faces six charges of assaulting a peace officer in connection with a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Cal Poly on January 23, during which eight people were arrested. A preliminary hearing on the assault charge is scheduled for July 11.

Cal Poly professor Shanae Aurora Martínez, 38, who was also arrested at the January 23 protest, is charged with assault on a police officer. She is scheduled to be re-arraigned on the assault charge on July 11.

Martínez, an assistant professor of English specializing in indigenous literature, is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on June 10 on a charge of driving under the influence.