Pro-Palestine protests at California colleges and universities escalated Thursday, including a new stop at UCLA and demonstrations at UC Santa Barbara, a day after police in riot gear arrested 93 protesters at USC.
The controversy over the Israel-Hamas war escalated Thursday when USC announced it would cancel its main stage commencement ceremony following more than a week of national controversy over its decision to remove the pro-Palestinian valedictorian’s speech slot from the May program. Will cancel. 65,000 present.
The university cited the new safety measures as saying that “the time required to handle the large number of guests arriving on campus will increase significantly.”
Dozens of smaller graduation ceremonies and celebrations at USC will continue under the new ticket policy and security checks.
At Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, the campus remained closed and classes moved online, with pro-Palestinian students occupying several buildings beginning Monday night.
And at UC Berkeley, 50 tents went up near Sproul Hall, the historic home of the campus free speech movement. On their fourth day of the “Free Palestine Camp”, students called on the university to withdraw its endowment from arms manufacturers linked to Israel.
Tensions ran high at USC, where the campus was rocked by the decision to cancel President Carol Folt’s valedictorian speech at the end of the semester, and then film director Jon M. Chu’s commencement speech, before That the main launch should be canceled completely.
An encampment that began before sunrise Wednesday morning in Alumni Park grew to about 200 protesters — students, faculty and outsiders — before late-night arrests by the LAPD. By Thursday morning, the encampment had been cleared, with campus security removing the remaining tents and signs.
On Thursday, the university closed the park — the site of the closed commencement — to accommodate a scheduled brunch for the 2024 graduates on Friday morning. Apart from chalk messages on nearby sidewalks in support of Palestinians, there were no protesters and few signs of Wednesday’s unrest.
The campus is closed to the public during weekends, and professors have moved classes online.
Luke, a second-year USC student, said, “This is a series of bad decisions by USC, from banning anyone attending the valedictorian ceremony to calling the police to arrest peaceful students.” “I don’t know what this university thinks it’s doing, because it doesn’t make any sense.”
Luke did not share his last name because he said he was concerned about his safety and the repercussions to his enrollment at USC, where campus security officials on Wednesday told students to stop for violating rules on camping and the use of amplified sound. But he may have to face discipline.
Rosky School of Art and Design professor Amelia Jones, who joined faculty at the protest Wednesday, said there is a growing “lack of trust” between the administration, faculty and students at USC.
“They escalated the matter massively by calling the LAPD,” he said.
A Jewish community group condemned the USC protests, while a Muslim civil rights group condemned the arrests.
A statement from USC’s Hillel said, “Although students have the right to protest, they do not have the right to intimidate or threaten Jewish students.” “Today’s events on campus included a protest action which again saw anti-Semitic slogans raised including ‘There is only one solution, the Intifada Revolution’ and ‘Long live the Intifada.’ These actions reflect a troubling and rapidly growing situation nationally and on our own campus at USC.
In another statement, the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations spoke out against the arrests of peaceful protesters.
“It is deeply troubling that USC’s response to students demonstrating peacefully in solidarity with Palestine is a forceful suppression of free speech and assembly,” said Amr Shabaik, legal director of CAIR-LA. “This reflects a nationwide trend of colleges and universities attempting to censor pro-Palestinian advocacy on campuses.”
At UCLA, about 100 students, faculty, staff and alumni occupied the Palestine Solidarity Camp on Thursday, consisting of more than 20 tents surrounded by wooden pallets and protest signs.
The effort was organized by the UC Divest Coalition, made up of several student groups.
Outside Royce Hall, students and others stood in line to be tested before entering the camp.
Participants said they saw minimal police presence – most officers passing by in squad cars.
Mary Salem, 28, a graduate student studying public health, said the camp is a community of people demanding change from UC administrators.
Salem said, “This is our community realizing that we can no longer go to a university that is complicit in genocide, and we can no longer go to a university that is invested in this genocide of Gazans.”
George Dutton, professor of Asian languages and cultures, said he and others wanted to protest to ensure that students could safely practice their First Amendment rights.
Dutton said it was “extremely disturbing” to see large police presence on campuses across the US last week as students protested the war in Gaza.
At UC Santa Barbara, hundreds of people gathered at Student Resources on Thursday for a day-long series of workshops, art projects and other actions to express solidarity with Palestinians, call for a ceasefire and demand an end to Israel-related investments. Captured the building.
Some tents were set up inside the building, but no camps are planned, said Bisnupriya Ghosh, professor of English and global studies and academic member for Justice in Palestine. He said that there was no police present and the event was going on peacefully.
“It focuses on education about Israel-Palestine as well as anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of racism and hatred,” Ghosh said.
Times staff writers Melissa Gomez, Jenny Jarvie and Teresa Watanabe contributed to this report.
