Roughly 25 people participated in the event, which took place at Taper Hall before DPS officers told them to disperse or be “pushed off campus” for violating University policy.
Roughly 25 people participated in a “Study-in for Palestine” on Wednesday afternoon. The study-in took place at Taper Hall before participants marched down Jefferson Boulevard and resumed at Trousdale North Entrance after Department of Public Safety officers told them to disperse or be “pushed off campus.”
The group read plays and discussed France-Palestine solidarity on the grass outside the Taper Hall during the study-in before marching off campus. DPS officers and DPS Chief Lauretta Hill watched from Trousdale Avenue by the Crow Center for International & Public Affairs since the start of the event.
DPS officers closed the Watt Way and Trousdale North Entrances as the participants marched down Jefferson. Speakers called for USC to disclose its endowment and investments and to divest from Israel and war profiteers.
“They have shut their gates in their rage,” an unidentified speaker said. “Our studying is a threat to this institution.”
An unidentified media liaison for USC Students for Justice in Palestine said the DPS officers told the group they were hosting an event in violation of USC policy when threatening to remove them. DPS officers did not cite the specific policy after several participants asked at the time.
The liaison said they believed that, because USC SJP is not a recognized student organization, the gathering did not qualify as an event.
Department of Public Safety Chief Lauretta Hill told the Daily Trojan Wednesday eventing that the study-in participants violated a University policy by holding an event without an event permit. USC defines an “event” as “a scheduled gathering of 25 or more people,” according to its event permit application website.
“To reserve a space you have to go through that process, and so we asked them to leave because it was not a permitted event,” Hill said.
Editors’ note: This article was updated at 8:08 p.m. Oct. 9 to include a statement from Department of Public Safety Chief Lauretta Hill.
