CFA to Trustees: Seek Justice for Josiah, better protect students of color

Faculty leaders again urged CSU Trustees to use their influence to help solve the murder of Humboldt State student David Josiah Lawson and make efforts to better protect students of color from harm at all CSU campuses.

Lawson was just 19 when he was killed at a party near campus in Humboldt, where he was studying Criminology and Justice Studies. It’s been two years and his murder remains unsolved, which according to a retired FBI special agent who worked on the case for several months, is “absurd.”

The case should have been solved in a couple of weeks but the police department botched the case, Tom Parker told CSU Trustees during the Board meeting on January 23.

The mostly white, rural community and attitude toward students of color in Humboldt is deeply troubling, he said.

CFA is calling for safety plans at CSU campuses that articulate what each campus should do to keep students of color safe, said Cecil Canton, CFA’s Associate VP of Affirmative Action.

“We need to solve this murder. And we need to understand and adopt policy to keep this from happening to more of our students.”

Click here to learn more about CFA’s efforts to seek justice for Josiah, including a ‘Radio Free CSU’ podcast featuring Josiah’s mother, Charmaine Lawson, and a video highlighting the case.