On Friday night, the USC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, USC Divest from Death and the Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation held a vigil for Palestine in front of Trousdale North Entrance.

The vigil featured flowers, candles and two lists of names, which an SJP media liaison said were “just a portion of the Palestinians that have been killed by Israel.” Photographs of murdered Palestinians lined the space between the lists, with small paragraphs about their lives beside them. 

Trousdale North Entrance was closed to all pedestrians beginning at 5 p.m. in anticipation of the demonstration, Department of Public Safety Assistant Chief David Carlisle said in an interview with the Daily Trojan.

As of Aug. 15, USC has allowed 24/7 access to all pedestrian entrances, with students required to show proof of ID to enter. Friday evening was the first time a gate had been locked to pedestrians since then. 

The vigil opened with a speaker thanking participants for attending and for honoring Palestinian victims and said community was essential to remain tethered and make sense of their grief, anger and shock.

“We first want, tonight, to first and foremost tell the stories of some Palestinians … who are students, children, babies, sinners, dreamers, parents, doctors, who are just beginning or ending their lives, who are more than just numbers, whose existence and right to live is not some hot topic or political thing but should be inherent,” they said. 

The vigil featured a 10-minute-long moment of silence and various poems performed by attendees, including “Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear” by Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha, which describes metaphorical things he would like left in his ear as the doctor operates and what he would like removed.

One speaker said the event aimed to make space for feeling, as USC attempted to maintain a semblance of normalcy and their “peers try to normalize this genocide,” and to create a space where participants felt guided, supported and able to be there for one another.

“We are hoping to provide a space for conversation amid USC’s attempts and the world’s attempts at erasure, at gaslighting its student body, that it, as an institution, has the right to remain neutral, whatever that means, while breaking international law, while actively sending intellectual and material support for Israel,” they said. 

Participants also listened to a speaker recite “updates from Palestine.” They discussed Americans who had been killed in Israel, the actions of Hamas and the Israeli military in Gaza, and colleges that recently divested from Israeli military suppliers. 

A speaker told the crowd that “seeing all these names and seeing all these deaths” made it easy to lose hope and feel as though there was nothing they could do for Palestine but that gathering to honor their deaths was an important form of resistance.

“Getting together, getting organized, is exactly what they’re scared of. We’re here right now, honoring our martyrs. What do they do? They close the gate,” they said. “We need to remember that we’re here for a free Palestine … The school is very, very scared of us getting organized. So again, get involved, and let’s change things.”