Amber Arenas is second-generation Mexican-American who utilizes her voice to aid marginalized communities. She is an advocate for the undocumented community, and she believes that it is her duty to stand up for her community in these unprecedented times. Arenas is a current member of the Students for Justice in Palestine and M.E.Ch.A student organizations and has participated in protests hosted by both organizations.  

She is a student activist who was one of the many protesters involved in the demonstration that took place outside of the Social Mobility Symposium on February 20. The demonstrators’ shared goal was to make CSUSM a sanctuary campus and to protect undocumented students from being targeted by ICE.  

This wasn’t the first on-campus protest Arenas had participated in, but it was the one that led to a one-minute phone call that changed her life.  

On February 28, Arenas, along with five other students, received an email from the Dean of Students detailing her student conduct. Later that same day, Arenas and two other students received a Time, Place, Manner (TPM) violation along with a scheduled meeting with the Dean of Students.  

Arenas then received a phone call from two University Student Union (USU) professional staff members. They notified Arenas that she was officially terminated from her on-campus job at the USU as an Audio-Visual Technician and her internship at the Student Health and Wellness Center, effective immediately. The staff members stated that her involvement in protests “does not reflect university values” but have since attempted to retract their statement when Arenas questioned their reasoning.  

Being terminated from both her internship and her on-campus job left Arenas feeling devastated. She lost her two sources of income, but what hurt the most was that she now felt like there was a target on her back.  

“I lost a piece of my identity…I felt so connected to my college community and these spaces and now I’m the villain in those spaces who they felt that they needed to fire,” Arenas said. 

Arenas had worked at the USU for four years and held her internship at the Student Health and Wellness Center for three years. Throughout her time at CSUSM, she had always been an active member of the community, within her activism and through her campus involvements. Both her supervisors and coworkers were aware of her political activism, she had even seen and conversed with them at previous student-led protests. The USU staff had let her borrow power cords for protests and the Student Health and Wellness Center had let her borrow a megaphone for the Social Mobility protest. She thought that there was a level of understanding when she was at the USU she was an AVT student assistant, at her internship she was a sexual health and sexual harm advocate, and outside of these respective roles she was an activist.  

In her role as a sexual health and sexual harm advocate, she had helped plan domestic violence candlelight vigils for survivors, Take Back the Night, and other survivor centered events that helped create a safe space for healing and talking about sexual violence. The events hosted with the aid of Arenas were largely appreciated by CSUSM administrators and she had been featured in photos posted on the official CSUSM Instagram. Last spring, Arenas was invited to President Neufeldt’s home along with other students who were considered “student leaders” on campus.  

“I’m getting fired for being a student leader in the wrong space,” Arenas said. 

The Time, Place, Manner violation Arenas received in response to her participation in the Social Mobility protest had been her first violation ever. Arenas feels that the new policy is considerably limiting students’ freedom of speech and their ability to advocate for their community.  

“[The TPM policy] is a direct attack on students. It feels like here’s when and where you can protest, here’s when and where you can use your voice, and here’s when and where you can talk, and maybe we’ll listen,” Arenas said.  

She believes that the right to freedom of speech is being targeted by the university administration via the heavy implementation of the TPM policy. In her eyes, it is a way to silence students and their activism. Her termination from two of her on-campus involvements is another example of the way students are being silenced.  

“Because to them when I’m a student protester, I’m now the enemy. I’m now causing a scene in their building,” Arenas said. 

The USU professional staff members who delivered the news of Arenas termination stated that their reason for firing her was due to a “breach in confidentiality.” Since, Arenas along with other protesters had attempted to use an elevator on the third floor of the USU that is only to be used by staff or event planners. USU employees claimed to have seen Arenas whispering about the elevators to her fellow protestors which led staff members to shut down the elevators before the protestors had a chance to use them. Arenas claims that the USU Instagram posts have featured this specific elevator, therefore making it known to students that it exists. 

When first hearing their reasoning, Arenas said she understood where they were coming from, but she felt that it got personal when her internship was involved. Her supervisors at her internship stated that her termination from her role was completely out of their hands. They even offered Arenas the opportunity to complete her hours unpaid. She stated that although she appreciated the offer made by her past employers, she felt uneasy knowing that the university held great “power” over them.  

To Arenas knowledge, two other students involved in the protest also held on-campus jobs but have yet to receive information about being terminated from their positions.  

This is why her termination felt personal. Her employers knew that her on-campus jobs were her only source of income, which is why Arenas feels betrayed by them.  

Despite being terminated, CSUSM refused to give her a letter of termination even though it would prevent her from losing her CalFresh benefits. This was another nail in the coffin and led to her losing a program that assisted her financially.  

Arenas made it clear that after her termination, professors and faculty were deeply upset by what admin had done to her financially. Some faculty members even sent her money out of their own pockets out of support and encouraged her to make a GoFundMe they could donate to. 

When Arenas was asked how she was feeling about the situation now that a little more than a month has passed, she stated that she still finds it difficult to go on campus.  

She said that it can be hard to come to campus and see the staff and administration they used to work with every day, now having their friendly looks turn into glares. It can also be difficult to introduce herself to new people since she is now known as the “girl who was fired.” The university took a direct attack on her financial security, her emotional well-being, and her education.  

Her reality has now become a cautionary tale for other student activists.