At noon on Monday, April 29, dozens of UCLA faculty members walked out of class and marched to the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” to rally with student protesters who have occupied Royce Quad for the last five days.
The protesting teachers declared themselves part of the Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network, which seeks to support students’ right to peacefully protest and amplify their demands.
“We are out here to support students who are asking for UCLA’s disclosure of investments supporting the war in Gaza and divestment of UCLA commitments’ to the war in Gaza,” said Graeme Blair, assistant professor of political science at UCLA. “I think our role is to protect their rights to express that and share with the administration that we believe they should allowed to be out here making these demands.”
Happening now: UCLA Faculty for Justice in Palestine stage a mass walk out in solidarity with student protesters. Faculty are supporting the students’ demands for the university to divest from companies that do business with Israel pic.twitter.com/6rVRxmRpkD
— Clara Harter (@_ClaraHarter) April 29, 2024
In addition to the calls for disclosure and divestment, the student protesters are also asking the university to sever ties with Israeli universities and call for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Similar demands are being made by student protesters at universities across Southern California and the nation.
After protests smoldered at UCLA and USC over the weekend, campus demonstrations grew in scope around Southern California on Monday.
Student encampments were established Monday at Eagle Rock’s Occidental College, as well as UC Irvine and UC Riverside, and a protest was planned at Cal Poly Pomona.
USC has closed campus access to the public in response to persistent protests, including an April 24 rally that culminated in the arrest of 93 activists.
“My team and I are closely tracking the protests at UCLA today, and are in close communication with UCLA leadership and City officials to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone on campus,” City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky posted on social media.
So far no arrests have been made at UCLA, however there was a skirmish on Sunday evening between dueling Pro-Palestine and Pro-Israel protests.
“UCLA has a long history of being a place of peaceful protest, and we are heartbroken about the violence that broke out,” stated Mary Osako, vice chancellor of UCLA strategic communications.
According to Osako’s statement the incident took place after a group of protesters breached the barriers set up to keep the two groups separated.
“The encampment was surrounded by Zionist agitators who were violent in harassing students,” said Vincent Doehr, a third-year PhD student at UCLA and encampment organizer who was present during the incident.
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Nathan Mo, a Pro-Israel protester, also witnessed the conflict between rallies.
“There was a weakness in the barricades and they (Pro-Palestinian protests) were able to bum rush that weak spot and completely swarm and encircle us,” he said.
Meanwhile, just outside the USC campus Monday morning, community activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, held a news conference calling on USC President Carol Folt to engage in an emergency campus dialogue with students over the Middle East conflict and students’ demands.
“The last week or so, there’s been chaos, there’s been turmoil, there’s been violence, there’s been destruction,” Hutchinson said.
He acknowledged that Folt issued a statement late last week responding to the protests, but he said she has not been “proactive” in working with students. He said an “emergency campus dialogue” is needed.
Folt sent a message to the campus community Friday saying the university had no choice but to call police during a mass protest last Wednesday. Los Angeles Police Department officers ultimately arrested 93 people who refused to leave the campus’ Alumni Park.
In Riverside, a few dozen students had erected about 25 tents in front of the campus Bell Tower by mid-afternoon. Some wrote Pro-Palestinian messages with sidewalk chalk, while others did homework on the grass or spoke to passersby.
“We are starting Day One with more (participants) than we anticipated, and we are expecting that number to continue to grow throughout the week,” UCR senior Hibah Nassar said.
A statement released by UCR spokesperson John Warren said the university is “monitoring the activity to ensure the safety and security of the campus community.”
In Pomona, a protest took place at Cal Poly Pomona that involved about 200 chanting students, many with signs.
“We are calling on our community to come and join us as we rally for the people of Palestine calling on our institution to meet our demands!!,” said an Instagram post from Students for Justice In Palestine at Cal Poly Pomona, or @sjpcpp.
In Orange County, about 50 protesters encircled roughly a dozen tents set up in a plaza near the Physical Sciences Classroom building at UC Irvine, chanting “free Palestine.”
A list of demands posted on a sign at the encampment said the students want UCI to divest investment in Israeli businesses, and that they want full transparency and control of future investments.
The University of California system in a Friday statement said it opposed calls for divestment from Israel.
Staff Writers Michael Slaten and Sarah Hoffman, as well as City News Service, contributed to this report
