Rodriguez, who did not reply to multiple requests for comment, studies the “collective genius of rebellion, survival, and insurgent futurity that radically challenge dominant forms of authority,” according to a university bio.
He has written extensively about the U.S. prison system, and he and Goonan have collaborated on academic works since Goonan graduated UC Riverside in 2013 and began pursuing his master’s and PhD at Northwestern University. A UC Riverside spokesperson declined to comment.
While at Northwestern, Goonan co-founded a self-described “radical publishing collective” that mailed literature to imprisoned people for free and organized student groups that mailed letters to inmates.
Online bios from the time note that he was an aspiring college professor and “a white abolitionist/anti-imperialist scholar activist.” His master’s and doctoral theses, both in African American studies, examine the American prison system.