SAN MARCOS — Members of a student group advocating for Palestinian liberation say city leaders have adopted more restrictive policies in retaliation for their presence at council meetings and demand an apology from Mayor Rebecca Jones for stating she felt “threatened” by attendees.
Since late May, members of Students for Justice in Palestine at Cal State San Marcos have peacefully assembled outside the Civic Center on the days of San Marcos City Council meetings, making public comments criticizing Israel’s ongoing assault in Gaza and repeatedly calling for the council to consider a cease-fire resolution.
During these comments, several individuals have requested that the City Council place a cease-fire resolution on their agenda to show support for the people of Palestine and make it clear that the city does not support the United States’ aid to Israel.
On June 25, the City Council unanimously adopted a policy shortening public speakers’ time limits from five minutes to three, bringing the city in line with other jurisdictions throughout San Diego County. The policy also states that the mayor maintains the power to reduce the amount of time for speakers as they see fit.
“San Marcos was the only city currently providing five-minute speaker periods for public speakers,” said City Attorney Helen Peak.
The new policy also states that speakers requiring interpretation and translation will be allowed double the amount of time of other speakers and limits the size of any signs or banners brought into chambers to 22 by 24 inches.
City officials said they have been working for months to update the policy to bring the city in alignment with other jurisdictions. However, several speakers said the decreased speaker times appeared to be directly in response to their presence at City Council meetings making comments about Gaza over the past month.
“I think it’s directly a retaliation [for] us trying to spread our voices here at the City Council meeting. The timeline of the events leads pretty clearly to it being a direct retaliation to our presence and us being here,” said Jake Parvin. “You guys are paid from our tax money to listen to us.”
Others also said the five-minute speaker period is a positive aspect that sets San Marcos apart by creating a more democratic process.
Other speakers reminded the council that it is important to listen to young people in the community, especially when they take the time to attend meetings and speak to their elected officials.
“Every positive social movement and social change that has happened in this country has been led by young people. The voice of young folks — especially young college students, young university students — it should be heard and taken seriously,” said Flower Alvarez-Lopez, co-director of local grassroots organization Universidad Popular.
Council members said they favored updating the older policy, which had not been changed since 2013. However, Councilmember Maria Nuñez raised some concerns about cutting speakers’ time and stated that public comment policies have not always been applied equally.
“Our policies are not always applied to all of our residents that come here evenly, so one thing I do hope is that our own policies do get applied evenly with all of our residents, regardless of the topic that’s being discussed or the comments that may come with the speaker,” Nuñez said.
Requests for a cease-fire resolution from the CSUSM chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine come as university students in San Diego County and around the country continue to call for an end to the war in Gaza, which is estimated to have killed at least 35,000 people.
Community members in other jurisdictions have brought requests for cease-fire resolutions before their own city councils. In San Marcos, Jones said doing so would be against the city’s legislative platform, which states that it does not address social or international issues because they are not pertinent to local government.
“I understand that this reality may be a source of frustration for community members, given what’s happening at an international level. It’s hard not to feel helpless when such atrocities are occurring in our world,” Jones said.
‘I feel threatened by you here’
Several community members are also criticizing Jones and demanding an apology for her comment to attendees after a June 11 meeting.
A video shared by SJP CSUSM shows several students approaching the City Council dais as members prepare to leave the June 11 meeting. They ask to speak with them and ask what it would take to put a cease-fire resolution on the agenda.
Jones and other council members can be seen apparently ignoring the students’ repeated questions as they prepare to leave the meeting until Jones states, “I feel threatened by you here.” Students can then be heard asking why she feels threatened by 20-year-olds.
A public speaker on June 25 named Amara said she was one of two people trying to speak to Jones when she made the comment.
“To say you were threatened by two women, especially that are of ethnic backgrounds, particularly Black and Arab, perpetuates racial stereotypes of POC [people of color] being inherently violent and dangerous,” Amara said. “I ask you to consider your own internal racial biases and publicly apologize for your choice of words.”
In response to questions from The Coast News about her comment, Jones said that the students “raised their voices and demanded that a resolution be placed on the agenda” and that the conversation “became very emotional and escalated very quickly.”
In the video, several students can be heard asking Jones questions but do not appear to be raising their voices.
“In that moment, I made the statement about feeling threatened, because quite frankly I did, based on the size of the group and the manner in which they approached me, especially since adding the resolution they were demanding doesn’t follow our policy and I had already communicated that information to the group after the previous council meeting,” Jones said.
Students who have come to speak at meetings said they have felt repeatedly disrespected by the council. They say approaching the dais to try to speak to officials after a meeting is not a threatening action.
“We do not pose a threat to you when we are trying to approach City Council members or the mayor after a meeting,” said Angelina, a public speaker at the June 25 meeting.
