SDS Purdue Statement on Rick Toledo
In the middle of the night on March 6th, Cal Poly Humboldt (CPH) police officers raided the home of SDS CPH grad student organizer Rick Toledo, nearly breaking down his door, and took him into custody, without bail. This arrest was in response to his participation in the one-day building occupation on February 27th, meant to call on the university to divest from the Israeli apartheid regime, institute sanctuary policies to keep ICE off campus, and raise the wages of striking workers.
He has been fired from his teaching position and suspended from the university. While he has been released, he is potentially facing four counts of bogus felony charges of false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit a crime, assault, and battery. These charges carry up to 14 years in state prison combined.
We at SDS Purdue condemn this cowardly attack on Toledo by the university. We demand that no charges be filed and that Toledo be given his job back. We stand in firm solidarity with Toledo and the students of Cal Poly Humboldt who have continued to fight for their university’s divestment from Israel!
Stop the attacks on student protestors!
