Pro-Palestinian student organizations gathered in front of Tommy Trojan in a walkout in support of Palestine. Participants marched to the administration building, where they tried to speak with university officials about the Israel-Hamas war.
“USC, shame on you,” chanted students. “You have blood on your hands, too.”
Around 40 students and faculty affiliated with the USC South Central Against Labor Exploitation (SCALE), USC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Divest from Death Coalition wore masks and keffiyehs, a traditional Middle Eastern headdress, as they held signs and chanted to passerbys on campus.
The organizations have previously held events and protests throughout the last two years, including a student-led pro-Palestine march in October 2023, a vigil for Palestine in September of 2024 and a study-in for Palestine held in October 2024, among others.
“We are demanding this university divest themselves from death,” said a media liaison for the organizations, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal from the university. “We understand that this institution is one that deals with genocide and uses that as a way to make money… that ends right now, and we will no longer be complicit in this genocide.”
USC has received criticism for the selling of cadavers to the U.S. military, canceling a pro-Palestinian valedictorian’s commencement speech and a lack of transparency in where its endowments are invested.
According to the media liaison, the organization leaders intentionally held the protest on Al-Asqa Flood, the name that Hamas, the militant group and U.S.-recognized terrorist group, gave to the surprise attacks on Israel two years ago on October 7. Since the initial attack, 67,173 Palestinians have been killed and 169,780 others wounded in Gaza, as reported by ABC and the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The demonstration drew a small counter-protest of roughly 10 students yelling out comments and chants in opposition to the pro-Palestinian protestor.
“I don’t agree with what these terrorists are doing. This is fucking disgusting,” two onlookers said from the crowd. “Jews don’t kill. F*** Palestine.”
Some students watched the protest from afar.
Ava Schwartz, a Jewish student on campus, spoke to Annenberg Media in a written interview in observance of the Jewish holiday, Sukkot. She asked those walking by if they were Jewish and gathered them for a peaceful observation.
“We’re not starting a protest,” Swartz said. “Jewish students here have a community. Together we can rise up against the hate.”
Jewish observers waved the lulav and the etrog, a palm frond and citron fruit, in their religious ritual, symbolizing Jewish unity and a thanksgiving and acknowledgment of God. As a Jewish man adorned another with a kippah in a moment of prayer, the protestors began their march.
The march began at Tommy Trojan, down Childs Way past the bookstore and Wallis Annenberg Building, up USC Watt Way to W 34th St., past Taper Hall on Trousdale Pkwy, ending at Bovard Auditorium.
“Israel, Israel, what do you say? How many kids have you killed today?” participants chanted as they marched.
Around a dozen campus police officers stood outside of Bovard Auditorium, monitoring the demonstration.
A former USC employee involved in the Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) and a student protestor entered the building accompanied by one police officer and administrative member.
After attempting to speak with university officials, protesters left the building, resumed their chants and began their final march to the front gates of the campus, where they concluded the peaceful protest.
“Whether we are staff, faculty, students or community members, when we come together, we can fight this,” the media liaison said.
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