Professor John Strauss drew scathing criticism and prompted official complaints to USC for comments he made when walking by a student-led protest which called attention to Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza.
“They should be killed, and I hope they all are killed,” Strauss can be heard saying on at least two videos circulating amongst students and on Instagram.
The peaceful protest met at Tommy Trojan on Thursday. It was a part of a larger nationwide “shutdown for Palestine,” which at USC included a walkout, a march and a temporary installation – a printout of the thousands of names of Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli strikes and retaliation, following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas, a militant group recognized by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.
It was at this installation that a number of eyewitnesses first saw Strauss step on the list of names of the dead Palestinians. At the start of the event, Strauss “walked on a list of names memorialized intentionally and was asked not to by student organizers,” according to Nada, a Global Studies and Human Biology student who helped organize this and other protests. She asked that her last name be removed, for safety.
Strauss said in an email he “did not walk on the list intentionally” and would not agree to an interview.
Witnesses said Strauss returned to the protest hours later. Walking by, he spoke to students and can be heard saying on video, “You people are ignorant. Really ignorant. Hamas are murderers. That’s all they are.”
With students clearly taking video on their phones, Strauss then continued to say, “Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are.”
Several angles of the moment are circulating. Annenberg Media has reviewed raw clips in addition to the videos on social media.
In an email, Strauss referred Annenberg Media to another individual he said “has the actual words I said which are completely different and not offensive except to hamas supporters.”
That person, a USC alumni who is based in New York, said she was upset by Strauss getting “vilified.” In an interview, Daisy K. said she doesn’t know the professor and did not witness the event, but she wanted to support him after seeing the video. She said she has been deeply troubled by the unrest on campus, including the removal of posters showing Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas.
“It is imperative that we unite in solidarity with Professor Strauss and the Jewish students who rely deeply on his support during these distressing times,” Daisy K. said Saturday.
Daisy K. shared a version of the video she called full and unedited. It is the same video that went viral on Twitter, but which had faces of attendees blurred out to protect the identity of protestors from surveillance.
More than a dozen people, including students and faculty, filed complaints about the professor’s remarks. One was through the Office of Community Expectations. Annenberg Media viewed a copy of one Title IX complaint with at least 15 signatories. Social media campaigns have directed people to email USC President Carol Folt and her team.
In an Oct. 31 email titled “Update on Campus Hate Speech and New Government Actions Regarding Antisemitism and Islamophobia,” Folt noted, “USC publicly and unequivocally denounces antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia. Hate speech is antithetical to our values and any threats of violence are unacceptable. Anyone who incites violence will be referred immediately to law enforcement for investigation and prosecution.”
The university responded to the incident in an official statement to Annenberg Media.
“We are aware of a social media post showing a faculty member engaging with demonstrators on our campus; we are looking into this,” the statement read. “We encourage everyone in the USC community to respect others’ views/act with civility towards each other.”
There is no legal definition in the U.S. for “hate speech.” The USC Student Handbook notes that, “acts shall not be considered ‘hate violence’ based on speech alone, except upon a showing that the speech itself threatens violence against a specific person or group, that the person or group against whom the threat is directed reasonably fears that the violence will be committed because of the speech, and that the person threatening violence had the apparent ability to carry out the threat.”
Nada characterized Strauss as using hate speech. He “has threatened us as students,” she said, “making us feel unsafe in our academic environment.”
Strauss is a tenured professor at the Dornsife School of Letters, Arts and Sciences. According to his bio, he specializes in issues of “development economics” and “economics of the household.” He is listed as a Resource Person with the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), and a Chang Jiang Professor with the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University.
He has published numerous book chapters and has a long list of research projects focused on aging in China, and is also affiliated with the USC Davis School of Gerontology.
He has taught at Michigan State University, Yale University and the University of Virginia and has been at USC since at least 2006.
This story has been updated to provide partial anonymity to one of the sources included in the story.