Students disrupt war profiteers’ participation in San Jose State University career fair
San Jose, CA – On February 17, a dozen San José State University students gathered outside the administrative building to protest corporate war profiters that were participating in the Career Center’s Job & Internship. Students held signs that read “No war with Venezuela” and “Free Palestine.”
Protester John Duroyan explained that Hewlett Packard Enterprise “readily aid and abet Israel’s apartheid state, providing the Israelis with software and surveillance technologies, to better track and detain Palestinians.”
While students gathered outside, five San José State University students and alumni crowded the upstairs of the Student Union where the university’s career center was hosting the spring jobs fair.
For 20 minutes, the five students chanted, “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Trump’s crimes” inside the student union and “Cut ties with Lockheed now.” When the students began chanting, university administration attempted to stop the group from taking up space and speaking out against these companies on campus.
University administration eventually shifted tactics from body blocking to holding a measly written note on printer paper. It read, “You are in violation of Time, Place & Manner. Please take your protest outside or you will be referred to university conduct.”
While chanting, the protesters dispersed zines to the students waiting to enter the career fair. The zines read, “General Dynamics has ties to ICE and CBP and makes software to process and store data about your facial and body features or behaviors, an essential tool for CBP and ICE.”
Along with the zines, the protesters held up posters with pictures of Hind Rajab, the five-year-old girl in Gaza who was murdered along with her family members in 2024. They also held up pictures of detention centers where ICE holds people that they have kidnapped.
Eventually, university admin shut down the line into the career fair, and soon students were only allowed to exit the career fair but not enter. The line was shut down for one hour. After the line was shut down, the protesting students inside joined the protest that was taking place outside, merging the two actions.
Together, the students marched around the student union, chanting, “Admin, admin you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide.” They faced admin once again, but this time admin watched from the inside of the student union, refusing to listen to student’s demands for no jobs for genocide. The action continued for the next 40 minutes before concluding with a call to action for San José State University to cut ties with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin.
Later that week students planned on protesting a Lockheed Martin internship information session occurring on campus. However, as a result of the career fair disruption, Lockheed Martin and administration quietly moved the information session online with short notice, a partial victory for students’ “Lockheed off campus” campaign.