Detroit Anti War Committee Statement Against Attacks on Rick Toledo

On March 6, University of Cal Poly Humboldt police officers raided the home of Rick Toledo, a graduate student and activist with Students for a Democratic Society. He was taken into custody without bail, nor has he been charged at this time. However, he is facing four counts of serious felony charges: false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit a crime, assault, and battery. These charges carry up to 14 years in state prison combined.

This is a clearly coordinated, political attack. The Attorney General of California signed off on the civil lawsuit complaint against him, which was filed by his university. Toledo has also been suspended and subsequently fired from his university teaching job. These two transgressions came in response to a one-day building occupation for Palestine done by the students on February 27th, 2026.

This is also not the first time that the students at Cal Poly Humboldt have stood up for Palestine, either. In 2024, during the spring encampment movement for Gaza, students took Siemens Hall in the name of divestment and held it for 9 days. It is clear that it is Rick Toledo that the university administration has decided to punish for the students’ unflinching fight for Palestinian liberation.

Detroit Anti-War Committee, like all anti-war and pro-Palestine organizations since Trump has taken office, is familiar with the types of attacks we’re seeing on Rick Toledo. Like with Mahmoud Khalil, Leqaa Kordia, Conor Cauley, Jessie Plichta, and many others, these attacks on organizers are an attempt to scare us out of protesting. Every time, the enemies of our movement have seen us continue to fight back, including resisting the repression of the heroes of our movement. Rick Toledo is one such hero, and we condemn his arrest, the university’s crackdown on student protesting, and the charges they’re threatening him with.