On February 27, about 100 people gathered for a “Defend Our Community” march and rally at the USC Village, organized by USC Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation (SCALE), an advocacy group not affiliated with the university. Ten other advocacy groups joined, also unaffiliated with the university.
The flyer for the rally read “Cops off campus. ICE out of LA. IOF out of Palestine,” and “No raids. No deportation. No compliance.”
The group’s press release listed four demands for the university to protect undocumented and international students, staff and faculty, including: banning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from entering campus; making a public statement to support undocumented students; committing resources to protect undocumented students; and informing students if immigration officers are on campus.
“We, as a society, need to try and listen to diverse perspectives, even if they’re not our own,” Myles Davis, a junior majoring in business administration who attended the protest, said. “What affects one directly affects all indirectly.”
In addition, the group reiterated their six demands stated in the 2024 spring semester protest, which included: providing full transparency of USC’s endowment and investments from “companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and occupation in Palestine”; ending the study abroad program in Israel; protect students’ right to free speech; disclosing any police activity on campus; and “ceas[ing] expansion, provid[ing] reparation” in South L.A. and Palestinian communities.
“I saw the protests in April and May, and it really got me thinking about what’s going on in the world and, more, what can we do to change it? Because there are all these injustices in society, and we have to make sure that we don’t just reach out, protest, but try to make a difference when things affect our community,” Davis said.
The campus gates at Watt Way and at the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Hoover Street were closed during the protest, Department of Public Safety Assistant Chief David Carlisle confirmed in an email to Annenberg Media. Carlisle said the closures were to manage entry, “which must include checking for and scanning everyone’s ID.”
“A large group of demonstrators marching through the gates could overwhelm the gate attendants and jeopardize the safety of the campus,” Carlisle wrote in the email.
This movement is part of the Community Self-Defense Coalition at USC. The coalition, created on February 12, includes more than 50 organizations that support Latinx, Black, Asian and more communities in Los Angeles, according to Spectrum News.
According to the event’s flyer, the other advocacy groups include Asian Youth Collective, J-Town Action and Solidarity, Nodutdol, Stop LAPD Spying, USC-UAW Local 872, Unión del Barrio, National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles, USC Faculty for Justice in Palestine, Los Angeles Tenants Union, Black Men Build - Los Angeles, South Central Local - LA Tenants Union and USC Students for Justice in Palestine.