When Leavey Library opened its doors in 1994, the World Wide Web was still new, and the new library’s inside walls were brightly painted to match the colors of McCarthy Quad outside.

“One of the floors was that lavender color of the jacarandas. Another one was the green, and then there was a light blue — like the sky — and then the terracotta was the buildings,” said Deborah Holmes-Wong, who worked at the library when it opened and is the current director of the Digital Library.

Even though the color scheme was changed beginning in 2014, when the University celebrated the building’s 30th anniversary Wednesday morning, administrators said the library is still just as critical of a gathering and learning environment as it was in the ’90s.

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During the event — which featured speeches from Dean of the USC Libraries, Melissa Just, President Carol Folt and Trustee Kathleen Leavey McCarthy — roughly 30 members of USC’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine gathered behind the event on McCarthy Quad. The group chanted, “Free, free Palestine,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

In her remarks, Just said the library has adapted to significant technology shifts in its efforts to connect students and technology. 

“Our students and our faculty would soon learn to navigate the World Wide Web, which was brand-new at the time,” Just said. “Today, Leavey’s dedicated librarians and staff still help our students and faculty find reliable information at a time when this is increasingly challenging.”

Christal Young, the head of Leavey Library, said she has many fond memories of exploring Leavey as an undergraduate, as well as from her work managing the facilities and programming.

“We have always called it ‘Club Leavey,’ even 30 years ago, and we just hosted a silent disco, and that was so much fun because we really brought that Club Leavey spirit out,” Young said.

Young said she wants to expand the library’s Study On! program beyond finals and midterms and add other rest-and-relaxation resources in the library.

Just said the library is currently focused on supporting the whole student, including aspects of mental health and study skills.

“The way that students use libraries is always changing,” Just said. “We want to just sort of stay one step ahead of what those needs are, while always maintaining this technological edge because that’s really at the heart of what Leavey is.”

Sydney Hurter, a sophomore majoring in economics and math, said Leavey is one of her favorite study spots but that she wished the library websites were easier to use.

“Some of the websites for USC [are] a little old and could use some updating, and that way the library feels more accessible as a student,” she said. “There’s a lot of times I need a textbook or a reference material, and it kind of hasn’t been easy to check out things for a class.”

When she spoke, Folt acknowledged the demonstrators’ chants and said she would try to proceed with her remarks.

“We all really do appreciate that people have the right to have their voice at a university,” Folt said.

A media liaison for USC SJP, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the students chose to protest during the celebration to continue to highlight the “hypocrisy” of President Carol Folt celebrating Leavey Library while libraries have undergone cuts and to continue to demand USC divest from Israel. 

“When else has Folt talked directly to the student body since the events of last semester?” the media liaison said. “This is one of the first events in which we’ve seen Folt in public, willing to show herself after her blatant abuse of power last semester. So, that’s why we felt it was imperative for us to show up and to continue demanding … disclosure and divestment.”

SJP members also held banners, including one that read “USC FUNDS GENOCIDE,” which was held behind Folt as she gave her speech. The SJP media liaison claimed the students holding the banners were threatened with detainment. 

“[The Department of Public Safety] claimed that we were posting the banner up. But if you read the Student Handbook, what counts as a posting is if you put it on a tree, on a building,” the media liaison said. “Students were holding the banner up. That’s not considered posting. We asked them, ‘Can you please cite the exact policy that we are violating?’ They couldn’t cite it.”

DPS did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

Just said she felt the event went well, and she enjoyed hearing students and student workers talk about the importance of Leavey, as well as the return of Leavey’s original staffers. 

“It was wonderful to see how important Leavey is to the community,” Just said.  “To see all these faces come and stand and celebrate with us, having the core team that opened Leavey 30 years ago was incredible, who came back from far away so that they could be with each other and really celebrate this milestone.”