Demonstrations have broadened in scope, purpose
Past USC protests featured marches, conversations, sit-ins, walk-outs and chants.
By SYRA PATEL
The nature and scope of student activism at USC has evolved from 2013 to 2024. In 2013, USC student demonstrations were defined by conversations, forums and sit-ins. This year, students have used encampments and protests to make their statements.
Tutor Campus Center overflowed with students and faculty for a discussion forum May 7, 2013, about a confrontation between Los Angeles Police Department officers and Black students at a party. A little more than 10 years later, the University Park Campus bore witness to a vast number of students participating in protests of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Daily headlines, sent straight to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the latest at and around USC.
This event led to calls for accountability from students, faculty and community members, who argued that Black students were being unfairly targeted. (Razan Al Marzouqi / Daily Trojan file photo)
2013: LAPD house party shutdown
In April 2013, police officers were called to a home a couple blocks from USC’s campus to break up a party held by Black students, citing noise complaints and an alleged lack of permits. The officers showed up dressed in riot gear, sparking controversy and protests over racial profiling and police response. The situation escalated, with some students alleging excessive force and racial bias by the police in how the party was handled compared to other gatherings nearby.
This event led to calls for accountability from students, faculty and community members, who argued that Black students were being unfairly targeted. Rikiesha Pierce, an alum, was a chief organizer of a panel with LAPD and Department of Public Safety officers to discuss the altercation.
“People at USC have a sense of privilege, and they are shielded from that racial tension in a lot of ways, especially being in the bubble that is USC,” Pierce said. “For the first time, students were treated like people of color, and it cut deeply because the privilege didn’t matter anymore.”
Pierce organized the event because it created an environment that forced LAPD and DPS officers to listen to what the students had to say.
“Discussions are great because they bring the community together,” said Ama Konadu, an alum who attended the forum. “If we didn’t have those discussions — both the larger town hall forum and the underground discussion — many of us wouldn’t have graduated.”
During the forum, there were people screaming and jumping to show their passion behind their beliefs. Pierce said she did not expect the intensity of this reaction from the crowd of students.
“What’s important is to make sure that people feel heard no matter what walk of life they’re coming from. The forum was atonement to recognize the breach, as opposed to sweeping it under the rug or making a statement,” Pierce said.
Konadu said the conflict between LAPD and Black students — including its aftermath — affected her mental health.
“That was my worst semester at USC because of the psychosocial impacts that that experience had on me during finals,” Konadu said.
A day after the forum concluded, the president of USC at the time, C. L. Max Nikias, released a Universitywide statement responding to the incident.
“I had complete confidence in my leaders as they fully briefed me in advance on their discussions with student leaders and the plan for last night’s forum … We are confident we will move ahead from this issue in an even more productive and positive manner,” he wrote.
Pierce was also responsible for assisting in filing a lawsuit against LAPD for making false arrests and using unnecessary aggression toward Black students at the party. On Aug. 24, 2016, the lawsuit reached a $450,000 settlement.
“With better collaboration between DPS and LAPD, there could be a better environment where students’ social activity is under a protected type of policing model,” Pierce said.
The rally featured speakers who advocated for local and institutional support for sustainability and clean energy, along with social equity in environmental policies. (Andrea Diaz / Daily Trojan file photo)
2019: Climate change protest
On Sept. 22, 2019, hundreds gathered at USC in solidarity with global climate strikes, demanding stronger environmental actions from governments. The Environmental Student Assembly and the undergraduate student government organized the event. The rally featured speakers who advocated for local and institutional support for sustainability and clean energy, along with social equity in environmental policies.
The protest received a response of support for environmental action from President Carol Folt.
“I wish we hadn’t failed to get it done well before this, but if everybody starts working, the time is right now,” Folt said in 2019.
At a speaker event nearly a week later featuring Michael Knowles, a conservative political commentator, 30 students walked out in a silent protest against Knowles’ comments about Greta Thunberg, a young climate activist, and the invalidity of climate change.
The awareness of global climate change reached a new height a month prior when Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic on a zero carbon emissions yacht, refusing to fly on a plane to meet with Congress.
“The climate hysteria movement is not about science,” Knowles said on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.” “If it were about science, it would be led by scientists, rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left.”
Fox News, on behalf of Knowles, released an apologetic statement stating that the comments were “disgraceful”.
Through silent protests, students sent a clear message of their disapproval of Knowles’ comments and ultimate support for climate activists, like Thunberg.
The march spanned three miles. Protestors chanted and raised signs from start to finish. (Ling Luo / Daily Trojan file photo)
2020: Black Lives Matter protest
On June 6, 2020, students, faculty and community members participated in a march in support of the national Black Lives Matter movement. The Black Student Assembly organized this event to honor the lives of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, protesting racial profiling and police brutality.
Konadu said the BLM protests made her reflect on her time as the USC Black Student Assembly executive director during her time at the University.
“Black Student Assembly was the first community that welcomed me with open arms. That was the community that made me want to say ‘Fight On,’” Konadu said.
The march spanned three miles. Protestors chanted and raised signs from start to finish. USC community members, including Meagan Lane, a former USG senator, spoke on Black empowerment, which evoked a strong emotional response from the crowd.
“I need you to look me in the eyes right now, as a Black woman, being a Black woman, and convince me that you have been doing your best,” said Lane.
Students shared stories of personal experiences as a Black member of the community and handmade signs displaying statements like “Respect existence or expect resistance!”
After the 2024 encampments new safety measures, such as ID verification at main entrance points of the campus, were implemented. (Henry Kofman / Daily Trojan)
2024: Pro-Palestine protests
In April 2024, USC became a focal point of protests in response to the conflict in Gaza that swept college campuses across the nation. Pro-Palestine students at USC occupied Alumni Park, demanding the University divest from weapons manufacturers and companies that work with the Israeli government.
This came after the cancellation of valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s commencement speech, which the University cited as a result of safety concerns. The University also canceled the main graduation ceremony, opting instead for smaller, department-specific events.
“I am not surprised by those who attempt to propagate hatred. I am surprised that my own university — my home for four years — has abandoned me,” Tabassum wrote in a statement on April 16.
Following the release of Tabassum’s statement, students participated in an encampment to demonstrate their support for Palestine. The severity of the protests reached a new height when the LAPD swept the encampment on April 24, arresting 93 protesters in the process.
“It is sending a very clear message to students and to the community, in many ways, to silence their voices,” Konadu said. “I think that that’s a scary reality.”
Protests in 2024, including the encampment, have grown in size and media reach, which led to a University response to implement security measures, like increased DPS surveillance and limited campus entry for students, faculty and staff.
“The spring semester brought incidents that tested our values, disregarded our policies, sparked fears, and required unprecedented safety measures … We hope by making our policies, guidelines, and rules clearer, we can make USC welcoming and safe for all, no matter what issues or conflicts arise,” the Office of the President wrote in a statement August 2024.
Safety measures, such as ID verification at entrance points of the campus, were implemented and continue to be used to this day.
“The surveillance is ridiculous and it makes it hard for me to even want to come to campus. It makes it inaccessible when USC is placed right in the center of south Los Angeles and is meant to be a part of the community,” Konadu said. “[The University] is quite literally shutting the community out even more than it did when I was a student.”
Although she graduated from USC in 2015, Konadu does not have faith in the University or the government’s level of leadership when it comes to responding to calls for social change.
“I don’t necessarily have faith in those institutions to make the changes and to serve the people in the ways that we need them to,” Konadu said. “I believe in people, and I believe in human interactions, and one-on-one interactions as an opportunity to heal.”
Pierce says that struggle is inevitable with each generation of students.
“Everybody makes their mark on USC. That was the mark that we were able to make in terms of making the community aware of that racial injustice that exists on campus,” Pierce said. “The torch is passed now to that next group of students to push that accountability to the next level.”
