Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong sails through congressional hearing

May 8, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

A prepared Cal Poly San Luis Obispo President Jeffrey Armstrong sailed through a congressional hearing on antisemitism on campus on Wednesday.

Three campus presidents were ordered to attend the hearing – Armstrong, DePaul University President Robert L. Manuel and Haverford College president Wendy Raymond. While all three campuses had allegedly failed to address antisemitism on campus, Cal Poly’s administration started a task force and worked with students to remedy the issues.

Pro-Palestinian protestors at both Depaul University and Haverford College erected encampments that led to the harassment and sometimes violence against Jewish students, but not at Cal Poly.

While there were only a couple of protests at Cal Poly, both of which led to arrests, the primary issue appears to be the alleged antisemitic actions of one or two professors.

At the beginning of the hearing, Armstrong was informed that at least one Cal Poly faculty member has been complacent in harassing Jewish students who were trying to attend an Israel related special lecture.

“Our efforts to support Jewish students and combat antisemitism have made progress,” Armstrong said during the hearing. “I want to emphasize that our goal is continuous improvement.”

David Cole, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and a former ACLU national legal director, questioned the Committee on Education and Workforce’s agenda while blaming the Trump Administration for cutting funding to groups investigating antisemitism, racism and hate.

“This is not an attempt to find out what happen but an attempt to chill protected speak,” Cole testified during the hearing. Investigations into antisemitism “take so long because you actually have to look at the facts and not make broad allegations as this committee seems to do. You have to hear both sides.”

During the hearing, committee members focused on disciplinary actions against students and faculty who have violated rules and laws enacted to protect all students.

Armstrong appeared respectful as he worked to address the commitee members, which was in sharp contrast to Raymond of Haverford College, who evaded answering many questions and instead made broad statements.

However, when asked about the political makeup of the faculty at Cal Poly, Armstrong evaded the question and instead said, “We have the vast majority of our faculty and staff, they really focus on student success. We have a high STEM population.”

Prior to the hearing, the committee ordered Armstrong to provide recordings of an incident with a professor in April.

During an April 4, 2024 lecture by an Israel military veteran, a unnamed Cal Poly professor held a Palestinian flag while confronting Jewish students and attendees in the lobby saying, “You are Zionists – you are part of the KKK,” according to an April 21 letter from the Committee on Education and Workforce to Armstrong.

The unnamed professor is also accused of placing the Palestinian flag over the face of a woman as she entered the lobby while saying, “Fuck Israel.”

It is unclear if this incident was related to a professor arrested twice for her actions during pro-Palestinian protests.

Officers arrested Cal Poly professor Shanae Aurora Martínez three times in four months in 2024, once for allegedly battering an officer, several weeks later for drunk driving, and months later for unlawful assembly and obstruction of a thoroughfare.

Martínez is an assistant professor of English specializing in Indigenous literature.

During a pro-Palestinian protest at Cal Poly on Jan. 23, 2024, a small group of protestors dressed in all black and wearing masks attempted to push though barricades. Cal Poly officers called SLO police to provide backup.

Even though most of the 30 to 40 protestors were peaceful, the small group repeatedly attempted to push though the barricades and into the job fair, which Cal Poly said was not open to the public.

Officers arrested eight people, including Martínez, who was charged with misdemeanor battery of a peace officer.

Three weeks later, a CHP officer arrested Martínez for drunk driving.

On May 23, 2024, pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the California Boulevard entrance to Cal Poly. Officers arrived to find wooden barricades and three students chained together in the roadway. There were a total of 15 to 20 people involved in the protest.

After officers ordered the protestors to stop blocking the roadway, Martinez allegedly told students they could legally walk back and fourth across the crosswalk and continue blocking traffic.

Officers then arrested eight people: four students, three people unrelated to the campus, and Jay Erker – a lecturer in the chemistry and biochemistry department.

Then on July 15, 2024, the SLO County District Attorney’s Office charged Martinez with unlawful assembly and obstruction of a thoroughfare regarding the May 23 protest.

Martinez requested misdemeanor diversion for the battery charge, a request it is expected the court will grant. If approved, she can divert her sentences for one year. If she abides by all laws and performs any ordered community service, the court will eventually dismiss the battery charge.

Court misdemeanor diversion is a program that was created by the California Legislature in 2020 to divert minor misdemeanor offenses out of court.

In a letter to the court requesting diversion for the battery charge, Martinez said that while she agreed to serve as a peace liaison at the protest, she lost sight of the goal.

“I admit that I briefly lost sight of my responsibility as a peace liaison upon witnessing the disproportionate police presence and aggression against protesters on Jan. 23, 2024,” Martinez wrote  in her July 11, 2024 request for diversion. “I admit that I
reacted physically to the aggressive police presence in defense of the students’ right to protest, but at no point did I: physically touch, a police officer, nor batter one.”

In regards to the drunk driving charge, Martinez pleaded no contest.

Martinez has a hearing on May 21 related to a second request for misdemeanor diversion, this one regarding her charges of unlawful assembly and obstruction of a thoroughfare.

In addition, Martinez is facing a two-quarter suspension without pay from Cal Poly for unprofessional conduct. The proposed suspension will need to go before a Faculty Hearing Committee.

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