Students set up a pro-Palestinian occupation protest on campus at USC in the pre-dawn hours of April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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Topline:
The number of Pro-Palestinian encampments at Southern California universities grew on Monday to include UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Occidental College. These students are following the lead of protesters at the University of Southern California and UCLA.
What do the protesters want? Protesters are calling on their administrators to cut ties with Israeli companies, weapons manufacturers, and universities. They also want their colleges to release statements calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The UC Irvine Divest coalition, which is behind the encampment, is also calling on the university to invest funds toward a Palestine studies program, open financial subsidies for Palestinian students to support their mental health and create safe spaces on campus, as well as direct funding to programs for students experiencing food, financial and housing insecurity.
The number of protests on Southern California campuses calling for an end to Israel's war effort in Gaza has grown to include UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Occidental College, CSU Los Angeles, CSU Northridge and Chapman University and Pomona College.
Encampments at the University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles led the way and have since been cleared.
Protesters are calling on their schools to cut ties with Israeli companies, weapons manufacturers, and universities. They also want their colleges to release statements calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The University of California system, which oversees 10 campuses and more than 280,000 students, has not moved its position in the face of student protests. In an April statement, University of California said it has "consistently opposed calls for boycott against and divestment from Israel."
"While the University affirms the right of our community members to express diverse viewpoints, a boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses," the statement added.
University of California also noted that tuition and fees are the primary funding sources for core operations and are not used for investment purposes.
"Through careful management of the University’s retirement and endowment funds, UC Investments provides a stable and growing revenue stream that benefits current and retired employees and supports the University’s education, research, and public service mission," the statement added.
Here’s where the encampments stand currently:
University of Southern California
The Academic Senate voted to censure President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman on May 8 over their handling of the Israel-Gaza War protests on campus that has resulted in violence and dozens of arrests.
Days earlier, students calling for the divestment from companies with ties to Israel, as well as the severing of ties with Israeli universities, complied with campus security and police orders to clear out their encampment, making it the second time the encampment has been broken up by law enforcement.
USC's student-led newspaper, The Daily Trojan, reported that at least 12 students who participated in the encampment have received interim or full suspensions and that some of the protesters are also barred from student housing.
In a statement USC said, "We are unable to discuss disciplinary matters because of student privacy laws and the confidential nature of personnel matters."
“When free speech protests devolve into illegal occupations, violating the rights of others, we must draw a line,” USC President Carol Folt said about the need to call law enforcement to break up the encampment. “The occupiers repeatedly chose to ignore university policies designed to benefit everyone, and to break the law.”
After USC's main stage commencement ceremony was canceled due to security concerns, a "Trojan Family Graduate Celebration," took place Thursday at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
University of California, Los Angeles
Classes have been moved to remote instruction for the remainder of the week. Royce Hall and Powell Library will also remain closed until Friday after police made another round of arrests Monday.
Early Monday a group of students staged a sit in at Moore Hall and video livestreams from the UCLA Divest social media page showed the UCLA Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department at a parking lot on campus arresting people and searching through property.
UCLA student newspaper The Daily Bruin reported on X that UCPD Patrol Division Lieutenant Richard Davis said 43 people, including students, were arrested in Parking Structure 2 under charges of conspiracy to commit burglary.
UCLA announced on May 6 that newly appointed Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Safety Officer Rick Braziel is leading an investigation into the violence that erupted earlier this month after a group of counter demonstrators supporting Israel, according to witnesses, attacked the UCLA Gaza solidarity camp overnight.
A Los Angeles Police Department detective will be aiding in efforts and the FBI could also be assisting, Chancellor Gene Block said in a note to the Bruin community.
“UCPD is currently reviewing all available footage ... and speaking to witnesses who were present,” Block wrote. “We urge anyone who saw the violence firsthand or who has information about the attack to report it as soon as possible.”Braziel is also conducting a review of the police departments response to the attack as well as a “broader assessment of all acts of violence over the last 12 days, including those against counter-protestors,” he said.
Over 200 people were arrested earlier this month when law enforcement stepped in to break down the UCLA Gaza solidarity encampment.
Students and demonstrators gather in a circle at an Pro-Palestinian occupation encampment protest on campus at UCLA on April 25, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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University of California, Irvine
On Wednesday, May 15, the student encampment at UC Irvine expanded as protestors observed the Nakba, an annual commemoration of when Palestinians were displaced in the creation of the state of Israel. Student protestors entered a lecture hall and began barricading the building.
Amir Mertaban, executive director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, said the protest had been peaceful until officers started removing part of the encampment, and in the process threw one student to the ground. The university said in a statement that it asked the Irvine Police Department and Orange County Sheriff to intervene in the expansion. The school has cancelled classes for the remainder of the day. LAist has reached out to law enforcement and the mayor's office for comment.
Administrators met with student organizers earlier this month for what the university described as a “productive” conversation.
However, in a statement released last week, UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman said that talks have stalled. "There was a commitment to continue discussions today, and we conveyed the importance of ongoing, regular, and productive conversations. Unfortunately, the students were not willing to meet with us today," the statement read. It also noted that the university was willing "to meet every day at any time of their choosing."
The UCI Divest coalition, the group organizing the encampment, is also calling on the university to invest in a Palestine Studies program, create financial subsidies for Palestinian students to support their mental health and designate safe spaces on campus.
University of California, Riverside
An encampment has been set up on the Bell Tower lawn, where protesters say they won’t leave until the university meets their divestment demands.
UC Riverside announced May 3 that a deal had been struck with organizers of the Gaza solidarity encampment by agreeing to consider divesting from companies with ties to Israel. In the agreement, UC Riverside announced it will disclose its investments with a goal of giving “full disclosure of the list of companies in the portfolio and the size of investments.”
A task force made up of students and faculty will also be formed to explore removing endowments from the UC Investments Office “in a manner that will be financially and ethically sound for the university.”
Additionally, the agreement noted that UCR’s School of Business trip to Israel has been suspended and that the school will overhaul the approval process for its study abroad programs to make sure it's in line with their anti-discriminatory practices. The university has also agreed to explore suspending the sale of Sabra Hummus on campus which is partly owned by the Israeli company Strauss Group.
Occidental College
University administration and the students who set up the encampment calling on the liberal arts school to drop investments in companies with ties to Israel’s war effort have reached an agreement.
In a statement, President Harry Elam said students agreed not to “cause or promote substantial disruption” at the commencement ceremony taking place later this month on May 19.
If the students uphold their end of the agreement, he said, he will hold a meeting with the Board of Trustees, faculty and senior university leaders for the students to present their demands with the Investment Committee said to vote on some of the proposals including divestment at a later date.
Those who took part in the encampment will also not be penalized.
Last week a faculty group, Faculty for Justice in Palestine at Occidental College, released a statement in support of the students saying “they are contributing to the longstanding legacy of Occidental College’s commitment to social justice through scholar activism.”
California State University, Los Angeles
A group of university administrators, including President Berenecea J. Eanes, wrote in a statement that "several buildings and state property were defaced with graffiti, including some graffiti carrying messages of hate and bigotry, including anti-Semitic rhetoric" since the campus' encampment began.
The university is increasing security and investigating those responsible for tagging the buildings.
Students in the encampment say that the administrators' message endangers the protesters by portraying protesting for Palestinian rights is antisemitic.
California State University, Northridge
An encampment was launched on the CSUN campus in early May. The first day events included a performance by Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. But in a social post, organizers with the Students for Justice in Palestine group said even though they planned an overnight encampment, they “decided to postpone and pivot it to more urgent actions.” The students said they were mobilizing in support of the pro-Palestinian supporters at UCLA, where university police deemed the in-camp protest unlawful.
Chapman University
Chapman University students are the latest to put up a Gaza solidarity encampment, this one outside Wilkinson Hall. They are calling for divestment from Israeli companies and weapons manufacturers in addition to calling on the university administration “to leverage their institutional power to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and additionally increase protection for their Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and allied students.”
In a statement to LAist, the university said they support a student’s right to peacefully demonstrate.
”Chapman University has a student conduct policy that we expect all within our community to uphold. The students taking part in the protest have developed a registration procedure to ensure that anyone staying overnight in the encampment is a Chapman student,” the statement added.
Pomona College
Students at Pomona College have set up multiple encampments over the past several weeks. Over 60% of Pomona College’s faculty have voted to call for a divestment from weapons manufacturing companies as well as companies with ties to Israel.
Last month, 20 students were arrested for occupying the president’s office as part of their protest demanding the university sever ties with Israeli companies.
