On Wednesday, UCLA announced it was investigating alleged attempts by protesters to block student access to classes, while at USC, President Caroline Folt began the second day of talks with student protesters .
UCLA university leaders ordered protesters to tear down the metal barriers they were using to control pedestrian traffic in and around Royce Quad, where the “Solidarity Encampment” now stands on its sixth day April 30. with Palestine.
UCLA Vice Chancellor Mary Osako issued a statement saying that attempts to block student access “could lead to severe disciplinary action, including expulsion or suspension” of protesters and that “this type of disruption to our teaching and learning mission is abhorrent, plain and simple.”
Osako also said campus security was being increased following last night’s altercations, including “adding more campus law enforcement, security personnel and student affairs supervisors.” .
At USC, President Caroline Folt is scheduled to meet for the second time with student leaders of the “Divest From Death Coalition” Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Tensions are particularly high at USC following the administration’s decision to ban a pro-Palestinian valedictorian from giving a commencement speech and the LAPD’s arrest of 93 protesters at Alumni Park from campus last Wednesday.
The USC campus is closed to the public and students have re-established a tent encampment in Alumni Park. Folt first met with protest organizers to discuss their demands on Monday.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the Divest From Death Coalition said the discussions were “deeply disappointing” and “revealing of a broader trend of the administration’s failure to meet the needs of its students, faculty and the surrounding community.
Folt told USC’s student newspaper, the Daily Trojan, that she understands that students “would not have viewed this meeting as a victory from their perspective.”
“I think we need to continue to have these conversations, and I’m glad we all agree on that.” We will take it day by day,” she added.
Also Tuesday, encampments entered their second day at UC Irvine and Riverside and 300 students staged a walkout at Pasadena City College.
“That is the class. We’re helping people come out of ignorance,” said Grant Bridges, a theater arts student and protester at Pasadena City College.
The crowd’s chants to “liberate Palestine” echoed throughout the campus. They waved flags and homemade cardboard banners while many others looked on, some applauding, others simply witnessing it all in silence.
Violet Stoeker, a political science student at Pasadena City College, told her classmates that the demands “will not stop.” And sociology major Kat Clark said the action was important, even at a small school.
“Doing nothing makes no difference,” Clark said, adding that the diversity of voices on a smaller public campus amplifies voices.
Although student requests vary slightly from school to school, most follow the principles of “disclose, yield, defend.” The students are calling on their administrations to disclose all financial ties, divest from companies that do business with Israel, defend protesters by allowing activism, and defend the Palestinian people by calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“We will keep our tents standing as long as it takes for UC to recognize our demands,” said Vincent Doehr, a third-year doctoral student at UCLA and organizer of the protest. “We are here to keep the moral pressure up and make sure UC is doing the right thing, because we know that without student organizing, UC will not succeed.”
Daily News photographer Sarah Reingewirtz contributed to this report
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