HSU Students Take Over Native Forum

On the eve of January 19th, 2015 Martin Luther King Day, Native students and allies at Humboldt State University took residence at the Native American Forum on HSU campus, re-naming it the Dr. Jacquelyn Bolman Forum.

The announcement that students planned to remain in the building came after a 2-day long Native American Activism Conference at Humboldt State where speakers from across the state presented on a variety of issues faced by Indigenous Peoples.

The Unified Students of Humboldt formed after the HSU administration abruptly and unjustly fired Dr. Jacquelyn Bolman, a nationally recognized Native scholar and mentor, and director of HSU’s INRSEP (Indian Natural Resources Science and Engineering Program) for 9 years.

The manner in which Dr. Bolman was fired was a traumatic experience for many students. With no warning, 3 administrators removed Bolman and students from the INRSEP house, and changed the locks. To add insult to injury, Bolman’s firing occurred 2 days before Indigenous Peoples’ Week.

In October, the group organized some of the largest demonstrations seen on campus since the Vietnam War. They have made very clear that their demands are necessary for the success of Native students (see below), though HSU administration has yet to meaningfully respond.


Unified Students of Humboldt delivered this statement to the forums’ first class, (excerpt)

“HSU is not living up to their own mission statement to support and celebrate diversity. We will occupy the Dr. Jacquelyn Bolman Forum until our demands are met.

Nationwide, Native American students continue to be overlooked by the educational system, and HSU is no exception. At one time, HSU was the premier destination for Native students in the state. However, in the past decade there has been a regular assault on our student programs and community.”


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Unified Students of Humboldt Demands:

1. Reinstate and secure Dr. Jacquelyn Bolman position as Director of INRSEP.

2. We demand full effective participation in a transparent hiring process for HSU staff, faculty and administration. We as students demand equal voting power on hiring, promotion, tenure committees and dismissal procedures in selecting and dismissing HSU staff, faculty and administration in order to ensure greater diversity at HSU.

3.Fully fund our Diversity Programs; including but not limited to the $40,000 promised to be restored by President Richmond to the INRSEP Program in a meeting last May.

4. Honor instead of retaliating against HSU staff and faculty who support students of color and our advocates including Antonio Lopez, Stephen Bell, Grace Cardenas and Jacquelyn Bolman, among many others. We demand these rights for our faculty and staff under the Whistleblowers Protection Act and Educational Code 66301 ( Section F) to protect their first Amendment rights.

5. We demand the dissolution of RISS (Retention and Inclusion of Student Success) and the programs in which it supports to be moved back into their respective Colleges. Faculty, Staff and Students who operate and participate in these programs should be the ultimate say in the fate of their programs.

6. Terminate Radha Webley.

7. The Bolman Forum is not the BSS Forum and is for the Indigenous Community.