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Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr. will resign on Aug. 11 after the school sent police to respond to pro-Palestinian protests on campus during the spring semester, sparking calls for his resignation.
The Northern California campus was the site of many student-led protests this spring demanding an end to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Jackson was criticized for his decision to use police to quell campus protests and lock down the campus during the final weeks of the spring semester.
The spring events cast a shadow over the end of Jackson’s five years, a period of transformation that saw Humboldt become the state’s third-largest polytechnic school. During Jackson’s tenure, the university, fueled by a $458 million investment from the state, improved lab space, expanded broadband, renovated buildings and opened new majors focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
The transformation of polytechnics is credited with boosting new student applications and improving the financial prospects of universities at a time when student numbers are falling on many campuses.
In a written statement, Jackson called the university “an incredible place with exceptional people” and urged colleagues to remember the “positive impact their work has made on our students.”
A Cal State Humboldt news release said Jackson “has been consulting with the CSU president’s office since the start of the spring semester to ensure an orderly transition.”
This spring marked a turning point in Jackson’s presidency. In April, hundreds of students occupied the university’s Siemens Hall, joining a wave of campus protests calling for the university to sever its financial ties with Israel.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that protesters used “furniture, tents, chains and cable ties” to block the building’s entrance.
The university responded by calling in law enforcement to remove protesters from the building. The Appeal reported in June that police arrested 32 people.
The police response led the Cal Poly Humboldt senate to pass a motion of no confidence in Jackson, saying he and Chief of Staff Mark Johnson mishandled the protest by calling in “non-university armed police officers.” The resolution said the action “created an unnecessary escalation that resulted in physical attacks on students and faculty and injuries to police personnel.”
The university ultimately closed its campus on April 26, citing protesters’ attempts to “force entry into several locked buildings with the intent to lock themselves inside and to damage or steal equipment.”
The university is continuing to hold classes remotely until the end of the spring semester on May 10.
The university’s response to the protests continues. A subsequent university senate resolution called on Humboldt County Attorney Stacey J. Eads to drop charges against students and faculty and for the university to lift the interim suspensions of 69 students. The senate also called for an investigation into the events and decisions following the April 22 protests.
320 faculty members ultimately signed a letter calling for the removal of Jackson and Chief of Staff Johnson.
Becoming President
Jackson was named president of the university in May 2019, becoming not only the first Black president in Humboldt’s history, but also the first Filipino and Native American president, according to Cal State. Jackson previously served as president of Black Hills State University in South Dakota, and as vice president for student affairs at the University of Louisville and Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Undergraduate enrollment was plummeting when he took office in 2019. Undergraduate enrollment peaked in 2015 at 8,242 but fell to 6,443 by fall 2019. It fell to a low of 5,199 in 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
The enrollment decline could have serious consequences for the financial future of colleges and universities. Under a multiyear agreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature, California State University system campuses must grow enrollment to receive increases in state funding.
The future of polytechnics
Becoming a polytechnic campus appears to have improved Humboldt’s prospects. Newsom allocated nearly $500 million to transform Humboldt into a STEM-focused campus, with new majors such as mechanical engineering, marine biology and fire science management. The university is about to begin construction on a new engineering building, according to a news release.
Humboldt State University officially changed its name to Cal Poly Humboldt University in January 2022. The renamed university had a record-breaking application season for the fall 2023 season, receiving nearly double the number of applications from the previous year.
The transition was not without difficulties.
In early 2023, the university announced that many sophomores, juniors, and seniors would be placed in hotels and other off-campus housing, rather than on-campus housing, to accommodate incoming freshmen. Hundreds of students protested the change. An online petition calling for “fair student housing” garnered more than 5,000 signatures.
New housing projects will help meet demand. A new 950-bed residential complex, Craftsman Mall, is expected to open in 2025, with a second 650-bed project to open in 2026, EdSource reported in 2023. Ultimately, campus leaders hope to add about 4,000 more beds.
For fall 2023, the university’s undergraduate enrollment increased by 2.2% to 5,419 students.
The news release announcing Jackson’s planned resignation touted the university’s financial turnaround, saying Humboldt had balanced its budget after running a $25 million deficit. The university also receives more than $67 million in research grants and contracts each year and draws more than $50 million from fundraising efforts, according to the news release. The university’s revenues exceed its expenses by $117 million by 2022-23, according to budget data from the president’s office. He also praised the university’s work with tribal nations in the region, its partnership with the two-year College of the Redwoods, its expanded international programs and its bachelor’s degree program at Pelican Bay State Prison.
expect
Jackson will “retire” from full professorships in the College of Professional Studies and the School of Extended Education and Global Engagement.
“We do our best every day and we trust our faculty, staff and students will do the same,” Jackson said in the statement.
California State University President Mildred Garcia praised Jackson’s leadership in establishing Humboldt Polytechnic Institute as a polytechnic school, saying in a statement that the transition “inspired significant state funding to expand academic services, campus facilities and services, and enrollment growth.” He also thanked him for his “lifelong commitment to student success and educational equity.”
An interim president will be named soon, followed by a nationwide search for a successor within the next year, according to the release.
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