FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 14, 2025
Gary Daniels
(916)-798-7710
gdaniels@calfac.org
Michael Williams
626)-664-7009
mjwilliams02824@gmail.com
Hands Off Students! CFA & Black Lives Matter Grassroots Demand CSU Admin Drop Disciplinary Action Against Student Organizer Angelmarie Taylor
A coalition of Black Lives Matter Grassroots, California Faculty Association (CFA) members, and Students for Quality Education (SQE) will mobilize at CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) on Wednesday, April 16, to defend Angelmarie Taylor, a young Black woman and student organizer.
When: Wednesday, April 16, 3pm – 4pm
Location: CSU Channel Islands Central Mall fountain. Rally attendees should park in lot A3.
Background:
Taylor, an SQE intern, and one of less than 60 Black Women enrolled at the university, is facing potential expulsion for allegedly violating the interim Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) policy for her involvement in the CFA Channel Islands & Campus Labor Coalition “Stop the Layoffs” rally held last Tuesday, April 1. She has faced years of documented retaliation from CSUCI administration for her student organizing work with SQE.
On April 1, during the “Stop the Layoffs” rally, militarized UPD officers accosted Taylor, standing just inches away from her before the rally began. Their acts were both unnecessarily invasive and threatening.
On April 8, Taylor received a notice by CSUCI Student Conduct stating she had violated the interim TPM policy. The notice also specified that whoever would advise her could not be someone with direct knowledge of the incident. As a result, she will be represented pro bono by a member of the National Lawyers Guild.
On April 11, Taylor—unsettled and unprepared for what was about to happen—was driven to campus police headquarters by Christina Sotelo of the CSU Channel Islands Site Authority. This surveillance and harassment of Taylor is a larger patten of behavior by armed University Police Department (UPD) officers, who—in one semester—pulled her over 12 times, calling them “routine checks.” She also faced coercion into signing egregious agreements with Student Conduct, and disenrollment from her courses on September 13, 2023, after participating in major protests.
Taylor was only re-enrolled after CFA members intervened, though no reason or apology has ever been given by the campus president or administrators for her disenrollment. Taylor’s TPM violation hearing is scheduled for 3:30pm on April 16, though administrators are attempting to postpone the hearing due to “unexpected scheduling conflicts” after learning of this Wednesday’s rally. We’re concerned this is just the start. Along with Taylor, Ryan Witt, another SQE intern at CSUCI, also received an alleged TPM violation on April 8.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA FACULTY ASSOCIATION:
CFA represents more than 29,000 tenure-line instructional faculty, lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches on the 23 campuses of the California State University system, from Humboldt State in the north, to San Diego State in the south. Learn more about CFA at calfac.org and visit our Facebook, Bluesky, Twitter and Instagram pages.
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