CUNY Professor Leads Workshop on Legal Rights and Security Practices for DSA Group

Walter Lucken IV led a workshop Thursday night for the Red Rabbits Security Commission at the NYC DSA’s Lower East Side headquarters. The New York Post reported that the 35-year-old assistant professor of English at Queens College, who earned $105,000 last year, instructed attendees on ways to skirt the law and lie to police.

Lucken, who moved to New York from Detroit, told participants that a disorderly conduct charge would not appear on a job background check.

He stated that the state relies on the mystique surrounding the arrest process to keep people in a state of fearful inaction. Attendees were instructed to use Signal chat with disappearing messages, turn off fingerprint and facial recognition on cell phones, and destroy documents.

The Red Rabbits group, launched at last year’s national DSA convention, aims to prepare for a national uprising against federal agents and police brutality.

Trainings in other cities have taught members to block intersections and use umbrellas, pepper spray, and martial arts against perceived fascists. Lucken joined the DSA after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. He specializes in public rhetorics of state violence and lives in a $3,000 per month apartment with his wife.

Lucken is scheduled to teach Writing about Writing next fall and serves as a delegate to the Professional Staff Congress union. The Red Rabbits have set a goal of trained marshals in at least 40% of DSA chapters. CUNY and Lucken did not return requests for comment, the New York Post reported.