Earlier today, students sitting outside of Taper Hall participated in the SJP’s quote “Study-In for Palestine.” It was billed as a way for students to bring their keffiyehs, masks, homework, and a friend, and to learn something new.
“Our goal is to continue the national SJP call for a week of rage, which students across the country are answering in response to one year of genocide of the Palestinian people and one year of resistance of the Palestinian people against this ongoing genocide,” said the media liaison for USC SJP, a Dornsife senior.
The group has a policy of not identifying its spokespeople. She was referring to the more than 41,000 deaths in Gaza since the start of Israel-Hamas war. The war began last Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked and killed some 1,200 Israelis, and the Israeli government responded with military airstrikes in Gaza. The one-year anniversary Monday prompted other events at USC, including a memorial for those lost in Israel and a march around campus protesting the devastation in Gaza.
USC Dornsife Professor Olivia Harrison was on hand Thursday to support student safety during the study-in.
“I’m here to make sure that the students stay safe,” she said. “Unfortunately, DPS did threaten to arrest them...without being able to cite any evidence at all that they were violating any rules. So I’m here to show solidarity with them as they show solidarity with Palestinians.”
After being told by the USC Department of Public Safety to vacate the Taper Hall area, participants left campus through the McClintock Avenue exit.
“When I did get there, I noticed that DPS had cameras in SJP’s faces, and were telling them to leave the premises within five minutes,” said Annenberg graduate associate Raima Amjad, who was there reporting on the event.
“And then it was about 10 minutes later that I saw that the sit-in had turned from a sit- into a walking March,” she said. “After they were told their dispersal orders and they decided to march out.”
DPS closed the gates to the McClintock entrance due to the march, so that temporarily nobody could enter campus; in response, frustrated students shouted from outside the gates, some even shouting slurs at the students marching.
The marchers eventually relocated the study-in to Trousdale Way.