A pro-Palestinian encampment in the middle of USC’s main campus was cleared Sunday morning by officers with the Los Angeles Police Department and USC’s Department of Public Safety, ending a high-profile protest that began in April.
University officials said among several reasons for the clearing was that “outside agitators” had jumped a fence on Saturday and assaulted officers – a statement challenged by a student journalist at USC’s Daily Trojan. No information on any resulting arrests was available.
And no arrests or major confrontations were reported on Sunday when the encampment was taken down, but the campus was closed for several hours.
“Earlier today, the University of Southern California Department of Public Safety (DPS) successfully removed the illegal encampment rebuilt on the university’s campus,” Joel Curran, USC’s senior vice president of communications, announced Sunday morning.
USC president USC President Carol L. Folt later said, “Despite our efforts to de-escalate, the occupation was spiraling in a dangerous direction over the last several days. Areas of campus were blocked, people walking down Trousdale, our main thoroughfare, were harassed, and iconic Trojan symbols were defaced.
“In addition, university property was stolen, and commencement structures were dismantled,” her statement continued. “Residence halls, campus throughfares, and libraries had become places of confrontation. Some finals were disrupted with noise and chanting during mandated quiet periods. Yesterday afternoon, outside agitators jumped the perimeter fencing and assaulted our officers.”
Aditya Thiyag, a student reporter at the Daily Trojan said, “We have zero record of that,” referring to officers being assaulted on Saturday. “That statement was the first that any of us at Annenberg have heard of anything of the sort happening.”
Clean-up of the encampment, which had been rebuilt after previously being cleared on April 24, began around 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
During that time, USC officials alerted students that the campus was temporarily closed, but school officials later announced that it had reopened to authorized personnel.
“The University Park Campus is now open to students, faculty, and staff upon presentation of valid identification,” USC posted on X at 10:37 a.m. Sunday. “As an important reminder: tents and related equipment remain prohibited on campus and will be subject to immediate confiscation; camping and other non-permitted event(s).”
USC Annenberg Media reported at 3:51 a.m. that university police officers told student reporters they planned to come in around 4 a.m. and had set up a staging area for the media, which they alleged was too far away to witness any arrests.
Protesters shouted “Free Palestine” at 4:17 a.m., as officers began surrounding the encampment, Annenberg Media said. At 4:25 a.m., DPS officers gave protesters in the encampment 15 minutes to leave or face arrest.
The officers started at 4:35 a.m. to remove the banners hung by protesters, moving them to the side of the park, Annenberg Media said. Students were alerted that the campus was temporarily closed.
As the cleanup proceeded, journalists at the Daily Trojan reported seeing “at least 50 Los Angeles Police officers … moving down Trousdale Parkway (near the USC campus) at around 4:15 a.m. with zip ties, less-lethal launchers and helmets.” The paper also reported seeing “three police vans, which appear to be used for transporting people who have been arrested.”
A news videographer at the scene said officers pushed 50 to 75 students out of the encampment and off the campus. The officers then cleared out the tents and other gear that was left behind.
The police action came just days after Folt wrote an open letter to the “Trojan Family” stressing the steps the university was taking to ensure that students finish finals “in a quiet, safe academic environment — and that our graduating students can enjoy peaceful and joyous commencement ceremonies.”
Folt also took a firm stand toward protesters who might continue to be disruptive.
“Let me be absolutely clear,” she wrote in the letter released Friday. “Free speech and assembly do not include the right to obstruct equal access to campus, damage property, or foment harassment, violence, and threats. Nor is anyone entitled to obstruct the normal functions of our university, including commencement.
“… When laws and policies that apply to everyone are repeatedly and flagrantly violated — there must be consequences.”
On Sunday afternoon, the campus was a scene of serene orderliness, with only a handful of visitors present, primarily students adorned in graduation attire accompanied by their proud parents, some stopping now and then to take pictures.
No remnants of the recent encampments remained at Alumni Park. The lush grass appeared pristine and devoid of any tents or debris. In the distance, a worker diligently swept the streets with a water hose. Soon after, workers put up wire around the park’s fences so they couldn’t be moved. At least two campus security cars and one LAPD car were stationed at park entrances to monitor ongoing activities around the vicinity.
“Get off the horse!” came a blast from a patrol loudspeaker, a stern warning to a group of students posing in front of the Traveler Horse statue.
Ramses Khumbah, a 2023 graduate of USC, said he believes the university should take accountability for the general situation on campus.
People assume that students “just instantly jump into encampments and radical behavior,” he said Sunday, adding that students have also made other efforts to reach out to administrators prior to resorting to the encampments, like sending letters.
“I think the university could have responded to those in a better way before we get here,” he said. “Now, like, their responses to send police as if their back is against the wall — no, like, you had a lot of leverage to kind of reach a solution here. The solution which I advocate to be divestment from Israel.”
James Adams, a freshman majoring in civil engineering, said he agreed that the protesters should be moved to another location on campus.
“I think it’s good that people are expressing their opinions, but I don’t think that blocking off a huge portion of campus is the right way to do it. So I think they needed to be moved somehow, but I don’t know if police force was the right way to do it, especially in the middle of the night when they weren’t prepared or anything.”
Greta Cox, a graduating senior who majors in theater, said she believes USC should have been more transparent.
“Specifically, the (USC) President sent out an email saying that they are very patient with the whole situation, which I think was false because they arrested 95 students the first day,” she said. “So I think just the lack of honesty and transparency has been very frustrating as a student.”
Cox also said the authorities’ account of the encampment removal early Sunday morning differed from what videos depicted. “I’m definitely very against it. I mean, they said it was a very calm, peaceful thing, but videos have shown that it was not peaceful,” she said. “And I just think bringing in the LAPD and so many DPS people, and endangering students, kind of goes against the morals of the school when they say they want to protect us.”
Thiyag, the Daily Trojan journalist, said he did not feel his safety was compromised by the protesters at Alumni Park. However, he said he felt threatened when police officers showed up on campus with riot gear.
“If I was a normal student, if I wasn’t covering this for journalism, it wouldn’t be something that’s absolutely distracting my way of life in the slightest, because not only are people just not threatening one another, but they are genuinely existing peacefully,” he said.
He recalled seeing people at the encampment playing soccer and having picnics the last time he interviewed the protesters.
Richard Hirschhaut, L.A. director of the American Jewish Committee, said the organization is “grateful and relieved” to see the encampments removed.
“It has been a point of contention and division on campus, “ he said in a phone interview Sunday afternoon. “It is time for USC to return to becoming a campus that is welcoming and safe for all of its students, but especially, its Jewish students who have felt very intimidated in recent weeks.”
USC became a focal point of Southern California pro-Palestinian protests following its decision to in response to complaints about online posts that critics called antisemitic. USC officials insisted the move was solely a security issue, not a political decision.
As tensions continued mounting — — the university eventually opted to in Alumni Park altogether, but vowed to move forward with the usual array of smaller satellite graduation ceremonies for the school’s individual colleges.
Those ceremonies are set to begin Wednesday.
