“Things are getting very horrible. The kids are so scared,” the voice memo played through the microphone. “If anything happens to us habibti, please, please take care of mom.”
Those were the words of Keck physician Laila Al-Marayati’s cousin, who is currently living in Khan Younis, Gaza.
“What am I supposed to say to that?” Al-Marayati said after sharing the voice message to people gathered Wednesday for the “Night for Remembrance,” an event hosted by the USC Muslim Student Union (MSU) to mourn the deaths of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the last 30 days, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. This follows the attacks on Israel on October 7 by Hamas, a militant Palestinian organization recognized by the U.S. as a terrorist group, which killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.
USC students, faculty and community members gathered at the University Religious Center courtyard. The vigil started with a short reading of Quranic verse to grieve and pray for the innocent lives lost and went on to feature a spoken word poem along with multiple guest speakers.
Varun Soni, the dean of religious life at USC, underscored the importance of recognizing that there is a community and campus resources to support those who are grieving.
“My hope as the chaplain is for our students to realize that they’re not alone and that people love them [and] care for them — that people are in pain with them and we can be together in our pain,” he said.
An organizer of the event, a junior studying economics who requested anonymity for safety concerns, shared that the main aim of this gathering was to provide a safe space for people to express their emotions and feel a sense of connection with others.
“People are hurting. People don’t feel safe on campus. I think that’s one thing the university really needs to emphasize,” he added.
Attendees voiced what the event meant to them.
“I was very happy to see a lot of people in solidarity coming and showing their support,” said Ivana Karastoeva, a junior majoring in global studies. “Even though it’s miles away, it’s still hitting home.”
Alexis Augustine, who graduated in 2022, said she decided to come because she wanted to be around like-minded people and be in a space where she could express her grief. She said she felt disappointed at what she views as silence from many USC student organizations.
“Ones that are meant to be supportive are blatantly ignoring the plight of Palestinian people,” she said. “It really felt like a shock. I was going through the different orgs on Instagram to see what they were posting and there were just zero mentions of Gaza.”
Another alum, Samiha Yusuf, echoed this sentiment, sharing that the event allowed her to feel a sense of connection.
“When I’m surrounded with other people who are doing the work and organizing, sharing their stories, things like that, it just feels like there are people who actually care and want to help people process and do something so we don’t feel so powerless.”
Some attendees said they now fear for their safety on campus.
A Palestinian Christian student, out of fear of being retaliated against, asked for someone else to read their testimony. The statement, read by another organizer, accused the university of failing to show “equal sympathy” and “disregarded the safety” of Palestinian students.
“Among us in the Trojan family are students who have lost family members in large numbers in Gaza, and the university continues to ignore their pain,” they wrote. “We urge the university to offer equal protection, sympathy and respect for these Palestinian students.”
After the event concluded, another Palestinian student spoke with Annenberg Media condemning USC for what they see as its lack of action.
“I’m very honestly disappointed in how USC has handled this situation,” said the student, who also requested anonymity out of fear for his safety. He then went on to criticize the initial statements President Carol Folt had made after Hamas’ initial attack and Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes that followed.
“[It] was a full disregard for the loss of Palestinian lives,” he added.
Folt released a statement on October 8 following Hamas’s attacks. It received criticism from the USC community for not condemning the mass murder of Israelis or the taking of hostages. She then released a second statement on October 10, but did not mention Gazan deaths following Israel’s retaliation. Her subsequent statements have been more about the general wellness of the USC community, however, people at this gathering want her to condemn Israel for killing innocent civilians in its war against Hamas.
When Annenberg Media asked USC PR for a comment on the lack of a statement addressing the situation in Gaza, they responded through an email with a link to a list of statements Folt has made, including two statements about hate speech in which she denounced antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and xenophobia.
Karastoeva, the junior global studies major who came to the mourning event, said she believes USC needs to do a “better job” of protecting Palestinian and Muslim students and said USC was “lacking in that department.”
“Students are feeling unsafe in showing their support either at protests or even online for fear of doxxing, as has been the case in a lot of other prestigious universities,” she said.
Columbia University announced Friday that it would suspend the fall chapter of Students For Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. Brandeis University similarly announced it was suspending a pro-Palestinain student group on campus.
Students throughout campuses in the U.S. remain fearful of being doxxed for statements made against the state of Israel.
One of the most popular sites known for doxxing is The Canary Mission, which is an organization that displays the names and pictures of students and faculty members who have made anti-Israel statements. The site posts information about each person including photos, videos and links to their social media, and has been criticized for impeding free speech. There are over 200 names of people associated with USC on the site.
The same sentiment of feeling unsafe and alone expanded beyond students.
“There’s just a huge cohort of students, faculty and staff who feel alienated and feel just completely marginalized,” said a faculty member in attendance. “And there’s very little way to even find out who those people are, because the university doesn’t even keep statistics on Middle Eastern students in general.” The faculty member, who declined to reveal the school where they teach, asked for anonymity because they said they don’t feel comfortable speaking out and fear retaliation for doing so.
They emphasized the need for students to feel supported.
“I wanted to be there for them [the students] and for myself, because as a faculty person who thinks about this issue, it can be really hard because you’re also isolated,” they added.
An umbrella organization for all Muslim organizations nationally shared a website for anyone to share reports of discrimination or Islamophobia. Organizers said the data will be used to showcase hate crimes happening on campus on the west coast in the hopes that administrators will take action.
The night for remembrance finished with a spoken word poem, performed by Adil Khadri, a senior at USC.
“Today a child in Gaza woke up to the sound of a bomb. There was no snooze button. The only decision he made was whether to take the stuffed bear or the stuffed lion with him to embrace because in 7 minutes his family’s apartment walls would be shaken awake, not from a call to rise but a call to die from the alarm of utter destruction by way of an Israeli airstrike,” he read.
“Today I learned life.”
Representatives of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund also tabled at the event to fundraise for children in Gaza, raising over $1,000 within 30 minutes, according to one of the organizers.
The event concluded with speakers encouraging attendees to greet someone they had never met before in the hopes they could find a community to share common grief.
“We need to stand together,” said Al-Marayati, one of the main speakers at the event. “This is not a time for hate, but a time for courage. We do not need to scream and yell or shout. We need to represent those who are screaming and crying and shouting.”