Faculty gathered outside Bovard Auditorium dressed in caps and gowns Wednesday evening to protest the deployment of Los Angeles Police Department officers on the “Gaza Solidarity Occupation” in Alumni Park, and to demand that USC protect students’ safety and the right to free speech. 

The group also sent a letter to the Academic Senate prior to the march, calling for an emergency session to address on campus events. The letter — signed by 380 faculty members — included calls to censure and take a vote of no confidence for President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman. A successful vote of no confidence would lead to a call for the two to resign.

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The protest opened with Devin Griffiths, a professor of English and comparative literature who led the protest, addressing the crowd. He said administrators asked him to remind protestors to respect that the University had entered quiet hours, prompting laughter from the protestors as they gestured to the news helicopter hovering overhead. 

Griffith went on to say that the administration did not believe it was the “position of the faculty” to take a stance on partisan issues, which he found “ludicrous.” 

Brent Blair, a protester and professor of theater practice in voice and movement, said he came to the protest because he was “exhausted by institutions that shut down free speech,” adding he had always felt safe at the student protests. 

“I’ve been wanting an opportunity to show up as a faculty member to show support for our protesting students on all sides. I’m Jewish, I’m mindful of antisemitism, and I don’t want that culture to happen on campus. But, I also want Asna Tabassum to speak,” said Blair, who founded USC’s Institute for Theatre and Social Change. “We can sustain difficulties and differences of opinion without shutting people down.” 

Shannon Gibson, a protest facilitator and professor of environmental studies, international relations and political science, said she attended the protest to show students she supported their rights to free and peaceful assembly.

“When you see a university silencing their own students, you can’t sit down,” Gibson said. “ As faculty, we’re not just here to educate and to grade, we’re also here to protect and support and encourage our students to be full global citizens.” 

The group began marching at 5:15 p.m. down Trousdale Parkway to meet journalists standing outside the locked gates of the Trousdale North Entrance. As they silently marched, the group passed three Department of Public Safety cars and several uniformed officers stationed outside of Taper Hall, who watched silently with zip ties at their hips. 

Howard Rodman, a faculty protester and a professor of cinematic writing for screen and television, said while it was natural for DPS to have a presence on campus, he didn’t believe they were there for the benefits of students or protesting faculty. 

“As a friend of mine who was involved in the Irish Troubles once said: ‘When police are there to protect, if you really want to know what side they’re on, look which side their back is turned to’,” Rodman said. 

When the protest reached the Trousdale North Entrance, Griffith read a prepared statement and took questions from journalists who stuck their microphones through metal bars and lifted their cameras over the locked gates. Afterwards, the protest walked back to Alumni Park, where some faculty entered the encampment to affirm their support for the protestors.

The prepared statement included support for several letters issued by dozens of faculty members in the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, Department of Psychology and Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. It called for the university to commit to academic freedom and not to call the police on peaceful protestors.

David Albertson, a faculty protester and an associate professor of religion, said he attended the march because he was “frustrated” with the University’s response to the protests on Wednesday, especially in comparison to other Universities. 

“I can’t see how we have a university that functions if administration can call the LAPD before any violence happens,” Albertson said. “That is the part that I’m stuck with,. I don’t see how that can be a principle that we live with as a community.”

A media representative from the Divest from Death Coalition said it was “heartening” to have faculty support for student freedom of speech and sent a message to Folt.

“They know that students aren’t alone,” said the representative. “and they need to remember the fact that students are not alone.”