Students protest for University action on Palestine
The die-in, organized by Trojans for Palestine, lasted approximately one hour.
By JENNIFER NEHRER
“Pres. Folt ‘celebrates’ Arab Americans and yet refuses to condemn the genocide in Palestine.”
Those were the words scrawled on a trifold poster board and posted in front of Tommy Trojan early Tuesday afternoon, as approximately 20 students and community members gathered for about an hour protesting the USC administration’s continued silence on Israel’s war in Gaza.
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The protest, organized by Trojans for Palestine, comes as the University celebrates Arab American Heritage Month through April. The only statement made by President Carol Folt on the Middle East was in October 2023, which was then reworded a few days later after facing backlash from multiple campus groups who called the statement inadequate.
Layan, a freshman majoring in political science who requested her last name be omitted for her personal safety, said those who protested did so because they were angry with the University’s lack of action, especially during a month aimed at honoring USC’s Arab student population.
“We made this a priority after Arab [American] Heritage Month, the celebration and how President Folt came out, and touched on Middle Eastern, Arab culture and how it’s a very rich culture,” she said. “She was saying, ‘come out and learn about this rich culture.’ And we thought it was just very hypocritical that she was doing all of this for the event, yet had not spoken anything or touched upon anything about what was happening in Palestine.”
Protesters on Tuesday afternoon chanted slogans including but not limited to “Not a conflict, not a war,” “No more hiding, no more fear, genocide is crystal clear” and “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” They held a number of signs, some reading “Free Palestine” or “In 6 months, Israel has murdered 33,100+ people, including 13,800+ children.” Some laid down on the steps of Tommy Trojan, similar to a die-in in October 2023 where participants laid silently on the grass in front of Bovard Auditorium.
Layan, a freshman majoring in political science who requested her last name be omitted for her personal safety, said those who protested did so because they were angry with the University’s lack of action, especially during a month aimed at honoring USC’s Arab student population. (Zongyi Wang / Daily Trojan)
The protest also comes two days after Israel said it was briefly withdrawing troops in southern Gaza for “tactical reasons,” leaving an uncertain future for a territory already suffering from mass hunger and destruction of civilian infrastructure, exacerbated by the severe lack of humanitarian aid allowed to reach the people in Gaza.
Tuesday’s action at USC, however, was weeks in the making. Layan said that because protesters often faced harassment and in-person pushback from opposing students when previous events were publicized beforehand, this event was planned in secret and spread only by word of mouth.
“Usually when we do publish events, we get backlash from pro-Israel, Zionist students, and also they have more time to collect and be able to show that backlash in person at our events,” she said. “We just wanted this to be as effective as possible.”
Another participant, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, said the time and place of the protest was chosen very carefully. They said the Tommy Trojan area is frequently trafficked from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and this strategy worked.
“Many people stopped, read the signs, took pictures, and I feel like it’s why it was successful,” they said.
Another reason Layan said the protest was successful was because of a last-minute change in plans. While the event was originally supposed to be entirely a die-in, she and other protesters realized that more people would be visible if they did not lie down behind the signs they were holding.
Layan said a few students gathered around their protest after roughly 30 minutes, some of them jeering, but that overall their action received far more positive support.
“It was a very heartwarming moment, even though we had students as well on the side who were very angry and said things, but we tried our best to stay calm and focus on what we were doing,” she said. “It was a success for the start of our ‘Free Palestine’ journey at school and bringing it to USC’s campus.”
The other protester echoed Layan’s optimism. They said the positive response from passersby gave them hope for the future of their activism on campus, even though the administration has yet to speak on the matter.
“Plenty of people walking by were giving us thumbs up. This one dude even gave us water,” they said. “It seems like there’s a sentiment at USC, that there’s a lot of people who are sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause. And I think it’s strange that the institution hasn’t acknowledged any of it.”
