After standing in solidarity with his community and speaking to The State Hornet on Wednesday morning at around 12 a.m., Tyler Mickschl, a senior studio art major with an emphasis on ceramics, received a call from Sacramento State Police Department, and a letter from the Office of Student Conduct.
Mickschl said that Sac State PD and the Office of Student Conduct are holding a disciplinary conference to decide whether disciplinary action will be held against him, after discussing the silent chalk protest held by students in the Art Department with The Hornet. He said the hearing is scheduled Tuesday morning with the Office of Student Conduct, where they will evaluate if he is responsible for destruction of property and violating published policy.
“I was standing in solidarity for my community, for the Art Department and for equal opportunity of all academic colleges, including Arts and Letters,” Mickschl said. “So, when I shared ‘myself included,’ I’m included in that community. I never shared that I partook in the action despite standing in solidarity of the message and the action.”
With Mickschl being the only student targeted, he said he feels like he’s the ‘scapegoat’ because there is no concrete evidence that he partook in the action of chalking.
“I am expressing solidarity with the act and the message, you know, standing behind my community,” Mickschl said. “My people are being exploited, unheard and lied to.”
RELATED: Sac State ceramics department holds silent protest
The message Mickschl is referencing were the silent protests chalked on the exterior walk way of Kadema Hall, with lettering including, “YOU EXPLOIT THE ARTS,” “YOU STOLE OUR MONEY,” “DETERIORATING SPACES,” “HAS PRES. WOOD EVEN WALKED THIS HALL?” and more.
“SLUM LORD LUKE” written in chalk on the Kadema Hall floor after the second silent chalk protest Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. Students wrote messages in chalk detailing infrastructure, ADA compliance, missing funds and more.
(Claire Harrell)
The two protests came as a result of an email sent to Art Department Chair Rachel Miller on Sept. 25, 2026 from Angel Thayer-Smith, the director of administration of facilities management. The email from Thayer-Smith stated the submitted University Budget Advisory Committee (UBAC) one-time funding extension requests on behalf of the college of Arts and Letters were not approved by the University Budget Office after a campus-level review.
On Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, students began the silent protest with chalk and their messages were later power washed off. They protested a second time that night around 11:09 p.m. The messages from the second chalk protest were power washed the following morning and painted over.
A facilities worker wearing a California Faculty Association shirt painting over the chalk Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The chalk was removed within 12 hours of the silent protest.
(Claire Harrell)
It was stated that the Budget Office would remove the remaining balance from the project’s funding code, and that the college would need to identify an alternative funding source to continue, according to the email to Miller.
The email listed two other projects whose funding extension requests were not approved: renovations to Amador Hall and an upgrade to the lab in Solano Hall.
Six days after the email was sent on Sept. 25, 2026, Miller said she received a second email from the Dean of Arts and Letters, Gladys Francis, on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The follow-up email stated that Provost Mary Maguire said the funds are being held for review and not pulled back, and that the original email from Sept. 25, 2026 was sent in error.
Chief External Relations and Economic Development Officer Michelle Willard previously told The State Hornet in an email, that the university was evaluating the one-time allocation to determine whether the project is still necessary and whether the remaining funds are sufficient to meet current needs.
Miller said the Art Department received multi-million-dollar funding for renovations in 2022, and completed a major renovation during the 2022 to 2023 academic year. The renovations during the 2022 to 2023 school year included electrical work, bathrooms and for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, Miller said.
A men’s restroom door with a chalk message stating “They p*ss on us and the arts” Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The students have silently striked twice with chalk in one week.
(Claire Harrell)
Former President Robert Nelson had authorized $640,000 for renovations to Kadema Hall, the library and an existing lab in Amador Hall, according to the 2022 to 2023 annual budget and expenditure report released by the Division of Admission & Business Affairs.
In the same 2022 to 2023 annual budget and expenditure report released, Kadema Hall, which currently houses art programs, is stated to be demolished around the 2027 to 2028 school year due to poor building conditions. Kadema Hall was built in 1962 and has an expected $17,492,276 worth of renovations, according to the same report.
The report also included a one-time project list including a request to replace “unsafe cabinetry, sinks, electrical panels, ceiling panels, doors and doorways, replacement to damaged printing press, enhanced lighting in non-renovated labs and classrooms, closing off through-doors between rooms, installation of through-doors between rooms, re-walling the Else and Witt gallery walls, painting, replacement and upgrade to gallery lighting.”
Sacramento State administration had previously stated in an email Wednesday, Sept. 30, to The State Hornet, that its facilities team had found no known conditions within the hall that posed an immediate danger to students, faculty or staff.
The on-campus Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) has done air sampling on many occasions over the years for the Art Department, stated Instructional Support Technician Kevin Ptak in an email to The Hornet.
“The test result reports for airborne silica have always fallen below the exposure limit guidelines set forth by OSHA,” Ptak said in the email. “The more time you spend there, as Staff and Faculty do, the bigger the concern is, so reducing the amount of clay in the air as much as possible is always a serious concern that can use attention.”
Ptak stated that students are taught to use the air suction and filtration systems in areas where ceramics are mixed together into clay and glazes.
In other general areas of the studio, ceramic dust is generated in other ways. While they do try to generate as little dust as possible, it is always there, Ptak stated in the email.
“I think if we had additional funding to add other HEPA air cleaners and vacuums in place in the classrooms themselves, that would go much further to keep the respirable silica levels down,” Ptak stated in the email.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, inhaling crystalline silica dust can cause silicosis, lung cancer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and kidney disease.
Miller said students who take one ceramics class will not be affected by the silica, but she is concerned for those exposed long term.
“I’m concerned about faculty who have spent large amounts of time there for decades,” Miller said. “I’m concerned about staff who have spent eight hours a day in that room for a very long time.”
In 2024 the Art Studio Lab was built, costing $18.5 million, according to Sac State. Miller said the Art Department is grateful for the building, but it doesn’t serve all the students.
“It’s not for the entire Art Department,” Miller said. “It is only for painting and sculpture and the graduate program. It’s not big enough for the entire Art Department.”
Miller said the students most likely chose now to protest because ceramic, print making, new media art and animation students were not included in the Art Studio Lab, despite having the same studio art major.
“I am fully in support of them expressing themselves,” Miller said. “I’m fully in support of the message that they’re trying to get across that the arts are sometimes undervalued and underfunded.”
The State Hornet reached out to Public Information Officer Wendy Aguilar and the Sac State’s Environmental Health and Safety for a comment but did not receive a comment by press time.
This story is still developing and will be updated.
Additional reporting by Madison Lopez.
“You don’t wanna hear ME you just wanna DANCE” written in chalk on Kadema Hall Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The writing reflects lyrics from “Hey Ya!” by OutKast.