On the first day of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on April 24, 2024, USC Hillel wrote on Instagram that it stood with Jewish students and called on campus partners to address “acute instances of intimidation.”

In the period immediately following the encampments, several Jewish students told the Daily Trojan that they had finished classes from home during the encampments because they did not feel safe on campus.

While pro-Palestinian protests have continued into the 2024-25 academic year, Dave Cohn, the executive director of USC Hillel, said Jewish students have felt “a sense of a more peaceful and less disruptive environment.”

“In some ways, the events of last year are still living with us,” Cohn said. “On the one hand, campus has become much calmer. And I think Jewish students, by and large, are feeling more of that sense of ownership over their time and direction. … At the same time, the contentious issues remain, the difficult discussions remain, the very real pain and loss connected to the aftermath of October 7.”

Andrew T. — who did not share his last name for fear of retaliation from his employer — is the president of USC Chabad. He said protests occurring mainly off campus this academic year have meant less interruption for Jewish students.

“The majority of Jewish students at USC see these protests totally different this year because they’re not on campus, and they are seeing the University’s action to prevent them from coming on campus,” Andrew T. said. “There are incidents within the protest that students comment about or feel unsafe about or feel insulted or upset about, but to this year’s extent and with this year’s protest, it feels like the majority of students are not affected by it.” 

Cohn said protests by campus gates could still have an intimidating effect on Jewish students — something Hillel pointed to in its April 24 statement on the encampment — while noting the University has had less ability to restrict them. He also said he is still concerned by speech and messaging from pro-Palestine student groups on social media. 

“We would dismiss [the impact of off-campus protests] at our peril. I think that having to walk past those demonstrations, entering and exiting campus; it definitely can contribute to a sense of intimidation, fear, instability, hostility. We really have to be mindful of that,” Cohn said.

On April 4, the Anti-Defamation League revised USC’s grade on its Campus Antisemitism Report Card from a D to a C — indicating “corrections needed.” The report card factors in administrative actions, Jewish student life and campus climate. 

The report card rated the University subpar in its “level of hostile anti-Zionist student groups” and “level of hostile anti-Zionist staff and faculty activity.” It also rated the University’s inclusion of a “Jewish staff and faculty group” as subpar.

The University wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan that it has “publicly and unequivocally denounced antisemitism in all its forms and has taken strong actions to protect all of our students — including members of our Jewish community.”

Shiloh Gonsky, a founding board member of Chavurah at USC, a Jewish recognized student organization founded in Spring 2024, said the University has not equally focused on all students’ safety.

“They’ve taken a particularly aggressive stance on antisemitism,” said Gonsky, a senior majoring in music industry. “But I think that has been at the expense of other students who’ve expressed feeling unsafe in different ways.”

Gonsky said she was motivated to co-found Chavurah because she felt she wasn’t able to have conversations — including about the encampment — within the existing Jewish student spaces on campus. 

“It was definitely hard to take a constructive stance in a space like Hillel during the whole last year, because they have to answer to a larger international organization that has a specific stance, and so there’s going to be a certain narrative coming out of that community,” Gonsky said. “I had conversations with other people in that community, but not necessarily as the community.” 

Cohn said that since the encampments, Jewish students have also formed Sichot — a discussion group that is not an RSO — which Cohn said was created to address “falling out among each other over these issues.” USC Tikvah has also begun operating since last spring as “USC’s Zionist voice on campus,” according to its Instagram. The organization is not currently an RSO, but Andrew T., its president, said it plans to become one. 

Cohn said he felt supported by University clarifications about free expression and protest. In July, the University reassigned safety modules to all students, including information about free expression and safe conduct. The University also wrote in a statement that it “has enhanced security protocols and clarified policies to prevent another encampment on campus.”

“It’s tempting to focus energy on the gates to campus. And we know there are widespread opinions about the access protocol, but I feel more supported every time I see one of those [free expression] signs on campus,” Cohn said. “It itemizes how free expression is protected as a value at USC, and what is within and without the boundaries of that, in order to promote a safe campus environment.”

Andrew T. said he wanted to see the University prevent non-University-recognized groups which he said have a history of antisemitism from “fronting” by using recognized organizations to host events on campus. At least, the Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation — an advocacy group not associated with the University — has been a collaborator on a post by the Prison Education Project, a University organization. 

On Feb. 28, the Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism announced it would visit USC alongside nine other universities to investigate “allegations that the schools may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination.”

The University wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan, that “a meeting has not yet been scheduled with the task force.”