Around 200 students gathered in Hahn Plaza Thursday as a part of a nationwide “Walkout for Palestine.” The walkout took place during the University’s Fall 2024 Career Fair held by the USC Career Center.

The walk-out took place over the course of two hours: students started chanting in Hahn Plaza, making speeches, having a die-in and then marching down Trousdale Parkway. Students protested the Fall 2024 Career Fair hosting weapons manufacturers, surveillance companies and companies that invest in Israel. 

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“The Career Fair is hosting a lot of employers, from the army, from the navy, from the CIA … just general war profiteers,” said an anonymous media liaison for USC Students for Justice in Palestine and the USC chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. “People profiting off genocide and repression and oppression of people worldwide. We’re going to be here to disrupt their ability to recruit and expand their ranks and ability to continue their oppression.”

An anonymous media liaison for USC SJP and USC Divest From Death Coalition said the defense organizations on campus made it feel like students were meant to study war, not pursue an education. 

“Despite their claims that they’re progressive and an institution promoting education, it’s pretty clear that they’re, in fact, a corporation that is funneling their students into these industries of oppression,” a media liaison said. 

An anonymous senior majoring in international relations, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said they were there because it was an act of solidarity and they wanted to help raise awareness and pressure the school.

“I feel like it is necessary to show up to those events, to show your humanity and show your solidarity with Palestine,” the student said.

During the die-in, Department of Public Safety officers ordered students to move away from the west side of Trousdale, citing concerns aboutof protesters blocking the road.

“The job fair that’s going on on the east side of Trousdale, that means that emergency vehicles can’t traverse on that side, so we need to keep this side open for emergency vehicles, and they were blocking that,” said DPS Sergeant Steven Alegre. “We’re asking them to move forward. We’re not asking them to leave.” 

There were 10 DPS officers at the walkout, according to DPS Assistant Chief David Carlisle. They were stationed there to ensure campus operations could proceed normally and the environment was safe, he said. Some officers were seen with flex cuffs, which aren’t abnormal to have for events like this, Carlisle said.

“If the demonstration became unlawful and unruly, and there was a failure of the demonstrators to abide with the law for campus policy, and an arrest had to be made, those flex cuffs, as they’re called, may be used,” Carlisle said. “Fortunately, the demonstration was peaceful and well-organized, and there was no enforcement action necessary.”

DPS was recording the demonstration to ensure everything was “memorialized” and the conduct of protesters and officers was documented, Carlisle said. Protesteors and officers behaved “professionally” and “civilly,” he added. 

Organizers handed out water to protesters in an attempt to ensure students stayed safe and hydrated during the walkout, a media liaison said.

“We have a saying, we take care of each other,” a media liaison said. “We protect each other. We can’t rely on the cops, we can’t rely on admin to take care of us, but we will take care of one another.”

Students who protested during the encampments last semester have faced disciplinary action for protesting, including getting suspended, a media liaison said.

“They’re dangling these punishments over our head as we protest,” a media liaison said. “They’re very, very reactive to anyone coming near their money and telling them, ‘Hey, we don’t want our money to be invested in a state that is murdering people by the thousands.’” 

A media liaison said students have seen the way USC reacts to student protests, and now they can’t maintain an appearance of being neutral.

“It has been remarked repeatedly that USC is an apolitical campus,” a media liaison said. “We say no, it’s never been apolitical. It’s just the fact that students have always been repressed and suppressed the moment that they begin to speak up. What’s changing now is that we refuse to be silenced, and we will continue to call for divestment from genocide.”