The impact of large-scale pro-Palestinian protests continued across Southern California on Tuesday, as local colleges grappled with the aftermath of hundreds of student arrests at UCLA and UC San Diego in recent days.
The impact rippled while the specter of protests and encampments intersecting with college graduations and rejiggered ceremonies loomed closer.
Students also reacted to President Joe Biden, who on Tuesday in a speech decried a “ferocious surge” in antisemitism on college campuses and around the globe in the months since Hamas attacked Israel and triggered a war in Gaza.
At UCLA, where police arrested 43 demonstrators on Monday morning, the campus spent a first full day this week relatively quiet – the result of the university’s pivot back to online classes after last week’s unrest at the school’s Royce Quad, where 200 were arrested after clashes.
The pivot to virtual classrooms was prompted by what authorities said were Monday morning protests at a campus parking garage, where dozens were detained. The arrests – which led to part of the day in a Van Nuys jail — prompted an outcry from organizers, such as the Students for Justice in Palestine. The group alleged the arrests were “unlawful.” The detainees — who released later on Monday — were not in the act of protesting when they were arrested, they said.
They laid ultimate blame on UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, who late Monday said an investigation was underway into the violent attacks at Royce Quad at UCLA last week, which the university’s chancellor has called “a truly despicable act.”
In a notice sent to the UCLA community on Monday, Block said identifying those responsible for the violence on campus remained an important priority.
A group of what Block calls instigators came to Royce Quad on the night of Tuesday, April 30, and attacked students, faculty and staff members encamped with the Palestinian supporters.
The UCLA Police Department, also known as UCPD, is reviewing surveillance footage for clues.
The UC announced Tuesday it was hiring 21st Century Policing Solutions — a police-tactics consulting firm — to lead the university system’s independent investigation of actions taken at UCLA that culminated in last week’s violence.
“Our campuses must be places where our community members can safely engage in the University of California’s mission of teaching, research, and public service,” Drake said in a statement. “This independent review will provide us with more information to shore up our ability to protect our community members and their rights while keeping them safe from harm. The Regents and I look forward to the findings.”
Meanwhile, campuses large and small, from Orange County to Claremont to L.A., continued to face the impact of ongoing and dismantled encampments and continued protests.
UC San Diego was reeling from the first large, violent confrontation between police and protesters on the UCSD campus in decades, which also led the university to move classes online and close vehicular access to the school grounds west of Interstate 5 on Monday.
There, police in riot gear swooped in Monday in an early morning raid, and cleared an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters. When it was done, 65 people had been arrested prompting skirmishes with hundreds of protest supporters – and criticism.
The crackdown drew swift condemnation from some faculty members – and frustration from many students over the tactics, but also over the response of closing the campus to in-person learning.
The protests, in general, have been fueled by demands that academic institutions divest, or withdraw funds that their endowments have invested in companies linked to Israel. They’re also seeking public disclosure of such funding. As events have unfolded, other demands have centered around specific campuses. For instance, at UCLA, faculty members have called amnesty for student protesters, a university investigation and for the university to cover injured students’ medical bills.
At UC Riverside, administrators struck an agreement with leaders of the student encampment last week, leading to a clearing of the occupied campus area. In return, occupying students got transparency of UC’s investments and a task force to explore the possibility of UCR’s endowment to be removed from the management of the UC Investments Office.
An encampment at UC Irvine entered its ninth day Tuesday, with speakers, prayers, a rally and other activities planned.
University officials said on Monday there had been minimal reports of petty vandalism and disruption of university activities.
“To date, the situation at UC Irvine has presented fewer risks of disruption and fewer concerns about campus safety than has been experienced at other universities,” the Monday evening statement said.
A second encampment was established at Pomona College in Claremont in the early hours of Monday, only a month after the arrests of 20 student protestors.
The encampment is still occupying the commencement stage, as the group has created a barricade around the tented area planned for ceremonies.
Tent numbers appeared to have increased as the encampment heads into the close of day two. With graduation slated for May 10, there have been no further updates from Pomona College on the possible suspension of ceremonies.
Cal State LA encampment grows
While not quite festive, the atmosphere was hopeful at the campus of Cal State L.A., where pro-Palestinian protesters have set up their encampment — about two dozen tents and a dozen canopy shades — outside the Eagle’s Nest gym for the second straight week.
The “emergency mobilization” began on May Day, May 1 — also known as International Workers Day — in solidarity with campuses across the nation, and has since grown to include barricades made from pallets and scavenged pieces of wood to protect the roughly two dozen tents inside, some providing food and water, others offering classes on subjects such as antisemitism and media training.
Organizers with Students for Justice in Palestine at CSULA are demanding the university disclose its investments and divest. Additionally, protesters want the university to call for a permanent ceasefire, condemn the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinian people, and to boycott organizations that continue to support the war.
“I’m glad they’re still here, we weren’t sure what was going to happen when we came back over the weekend,” said Cyntnia Godinez, a student not involved in the protests.
Like Godinez, many students said they supported the demonstrators, and worried that their campus could be home to the type of tense police confrontations seen at other universities.
“It’s not what I want to focus on right now (near final exams) but I’m just happy that there’s people out there willing to take the risk with everything going on at other schools,” Godinez said.
However that may not last, according to a May 5 message from CSULA President Berenecea J. Eanes. In the emailed message to students, which came just days after university officials said that any vandalism or destruction of property would not be tolerated, Eanes said that over the weekend “several buildings and state property were defaced with graffiti,” including anti-Semitic rhetoric.
“We are increasing security and investigating the individual or individuals responsible for the graffiti,” Eanes’ statement said. “And in the interest of public safety, we are increasing security measures to act swiftly and decisively if further unlawful activity occurs.”
University officials did not respond to questions about the specifics surrounding the graffiti, including what it said, whether it was linked to the protesters, if they plan to meet any of the demands, or if they plan to dismantle the camp.
SJP organizers though have condemned Eanes’ statement, denied any involvement and denounced the “lack of support Palestinians have received in the face of Zionist intimidation.”
“Although the president has repeatedly affirmed she values safety, by mislabeling our group as hateful or antisemitic she is putting students participating in our rights to protest in danger,” the statement said. “Lies like this being spread to the entire campus are dangerous as we have seen in other institutions such as UCLA.”
There did not appear to be counterprotestors and police presence appeared minimal.
Students, advocates react to Biden speech
In Washington, D.C., Biden used a ceremony to remember victims of the Holocaust to also denounce new waves of violence and hateful rhetoric toward Jews.
Biden said that on Oct. 7, Hamas “brought to life” that hatred with the killing of more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and warned that, already, people are beginning to forget who was responsible.
The president used his address to renew his declarations of unwavering support for Israel in its war against Hamas even as his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown increasingly strained over Israel’s push to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which would surely worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis for Palestinians.
In response to anti-Semitic acts on campuses, the Biden administration announced an initiative that will provide guidance to school districts and colleges to help promote safety on campus.
At Cal State LA, students were largely in support of the move, but wanted the Biden administration to do more to help people in Gaza.
“I’m all for the safety on campus but it has to be safety for everyone, not just one group,” said Kevin Tong. “We can’t just support one side any longer.”
Others touted the speech at what they see as a pivotal moment.
“President Biden may have delivered his most important speech of his presidency today,” said Richard Hirschhaut, Los Angeles director of American Jewish Committee. “The president put into words what so many Jews are experiencing around the world, especially Jewish college students.
“We commend President Biden for not only standing up against rising antisemitism, but for reminding the world of the realities of the Holocaust and the continuing impact and trauma of October 7th.”
Hirschhaut said many protesters are continuing to perpetuate “false narratives” about Israel and threatening Jewish students, and urged folks to watch or read the speech.
Biden has struggled to balance his support for Israel since the attack by Hamas — the deadliest day for Jews worldwide since the Holocaust — with his efforts to protect civilian life in Gaza.
Related links
UCLA police reviewing surveillance video, seeking witnesses to arrest encampment attackers
UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment left in a rubble as students vow campus protests ‘are not over’
Pomona College students build new encampment one month after protest led to arrests
USC cancels ‘main stage’ graduation ceremony amid protests, valedictorian controversy
Police raid UCSD Gaza protest encampment, arrest dozens – The San Diego Union-Tribune
While acknowledging the ceremony was taking place during “difficult times,” Biden made no explicit reference to the deaths of more than 34,700 Palestinians since the attack by Hamas led Israel to declare war in Gaza. The tally from the Hamas-run health ministry includes militants, but also many civilians caught up in the fighting.
“My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree,” Biden said.
“We’re at risk of people not knowing the truth,” Biden said of the horrors of the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were systematically killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. “This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world.”
Graduations inch closer
For many local campuses, graduations come amid the protests, prompting re-worked ceremonies, sealed off from the optics of a protest.
Four days of commencement celebrations will begin on Wednesday at USC following weeks of campus unrest that was highlighted by the arrest of 93 protesters who attempted to occupy Alumni Park, leading to the university’s cancellation of its annual main stage graduation ceremony.
Graduation celebrations will begin at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday with a series of doctoral hooding ceremonies at various campus locations, along with a variety of other commencement activities throughout the day.
Additional ceremonies are planned for the rest of the week, with the bulk of the individual school events planned on Friday.
The traditional main stage ceremony, which had been scheduled for Friday and annually attracts more than 60,000 people to Alumni Park, was scrubbed last month amid campus unrest. In its place, the university will hold a “Trojan Family Graduate Celebration” at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. University officials said the event will include “drone shows, fireworks, surprise performances, the Trojan Marching Band, and a special gift just for the Class of 2024.”
So far, most universities seem to have held to their original plans.
City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
