Cal Poly Humboldt president to step down, will stay on as professor

ARCATA — Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr. is resigning effective Aug. 11, the California State University system announced.

Jackson, president since 2019, led the university through the pandemic and spearheaded physical and financial expansion, turning the university into Cal Poly Humboldt from Humboldt State University under his tenure. However, critics excoriated his administration’s response to recent pro-Palestinian protests and the occupation of campus buildings, spurring the university’s leaders to close campus under threat of arrest.

The CSU will appoint an interim president and find a longer-term replacement within a year, meaning the interim will preside over the fall semester.

“We do the very best we can every day, trusting the faculty, staff, and students to do the same,” Jackson said in a release Thursday. “In the end, it remains about the students. And what has been most rewarding are the many students who have graduated over the last five years. Nothing replaces the smiles of a student and the applause and excitement from their family as their student crosses the stage to receive their diploma. That is what it is all about.”

The university’s communications team denied a request for an interview with Jackson, writing via email that “we don’t have additional details to share at this time, but please feel free to refer to the University’s statement for your story.” The full university statement can be viewed at now.humboldt.edu/news/cal-poly-humboldt-president-announces-plan-step-away.

In the statement, Jackson does not specifically outline his reasons for resigning, though he will remain as a tenured professor with the College of Professional Studies and the College of Extended Education and Global Engagement.

Jackson, also the university’s first Black president, pursued an aggressive growth strategy that involved a currently under-construction student dormitory that will host 964 residents, a plan to double enrollment by 2027 — though the campus is not currently on track to meet that goal, only increasing student enrollment in the past fall semester by 2% — and a fundraising campaign that netted campus over $50 million for scholarships, expanding campus programs and other academic pursuits.

‘Number of crises’

The university release describes how “President Jackson led Cal Poly Humboldt through a number of crises,” including multi-day power outages and the coronavirus pandemic. The release did not mention the pro-Palestinian occupation of Siemens Hall, attempts at breaching other buildings and the administration’s response to lock down campus before ultimately sending in hundreds of police officers who arrested dozens of protesters and a local news reporter.

Jackson and his administration’s handling of the protests spurred the local chapter of the California Faculty Association to issue a vote of no confidence in him and Provost Jenn Capps. The university’s General Faculty also voted no confidence in Jackson and Chief of Staff Mark Johnson over their handling of the protests, calling for their resignation. In later statements, Jackson remained undeterred by the votes, noting in a Times-Standard interview, “Faculty have a lot more important things, like teaching, to be worried about.”

Following campus closure, the CFA filed an unfair practice charge complaint against the university, concurring with an open letter from the American Civil Liberties Union that said, “Whatever may have happened previously, it is difficult to see how any such emergency currently exists that could justify the complete closure of the entire campus, including its designated public forum spaces.”

Cal Poly Humboldt Vice President of University Advancement Frank Whitlach lauded Jackson’s time in office.

“I’m incredibly proud of the leadership that President Jackson provided and all that’s been accomplished over the last five years. I think looking at it objectively, you could say, this has been one of the most transformational periods in the university’s history since its founding.”

Whitlach is also leaving his position soon, as he is set to take a sabbatical in the next few weeks. Regarding the protests and the administration’s handling of them, Whitlatch said he did not believe the situation would have a long-term impact on campus.

Legacy

The defining aspect of Jackson’s leadership will ultimately be the university’s conversion into Cal Poly Humboldt and expansion of programs, partnerships and fundraising, according to Rollin Richmond, who served at Humboldt State University’s president from 2002 to 2013. (Editor’s note: Rollin Richmond is the father of Times-Standard publisher John Richmond.)

“I was pleased to see that the university has become a polytechnic institution and that he was able to get some more money from the state to get the university to do some things that make it more polytechnic,” Richmond said. “I really liked the work with College of the Redwoods, too, to do some things together and make it easier for students to transfer from CR to Cal Poly.”

Richmond said he was particularly pleased with the university’s expanded partnerships with College of the Redwoods and encouraged Jackson’s replacement — whomever it may be — to continue maintaining local cooperative programs.

Addressing the university’s response to the protests, Richmond encouraged the university to work more closely with students in times of unrest but acknowledged that he probably would have engaged in a similar lockdown policy if he were in Jackson’s shoes.