This fall students at Cal Poly peacefully protested Raytheon at their career fair. Now their school is threatening them for their peace activism. Sign our letter to the Cal Poly President telling him to drop the threats against the students.
Dear Jeffrey D. Armstrong,
I implore you to drop the formal warnings received by students who sang in front of the Raytheon table at their fall career fair. The peaceful students repeated an activity they had held in the spring, after being cleared of any wrongdoing. But they are again being threatened with disciplinary action by your administration. For simply singing, for less than fifteen minutes.
The peaceful, singing students wished to shed light on the connection between Cal Poly and Raytheon, and between Raytheon and the death of civilians in Yemen and in conflicts around the world. They skillfully put Cal Poly’s educational philosophy “learn by doing” into practice, and exercised their right to free speech. Instead of commending the students for their activity in real world issues, or simply ignoring their tiny, minutes-long singing, your administration has chosen to frighten them with formal letters of warning.
Cal Poly is clearly intimidating its students in an attempt to appease the weapons manufacturer Raytheon. This is the same school that bent over backwards for a student who wore blackface and the far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos in order to be seen as a free speech champion. The department tasked with protecting students is outrageously employing intimidation tactics against them to protect the school's ties to war profiteers. By prioritizing the comfort of Raytheon, which rakes in billions from weapons sales annually, Cal Poly is inflicting violence on its own students and the world. I ask you to please drop the threats against the SLO Peace Coalition students immediately.
Yours Sincerely,
