College Protests Ignite Nationwide

Student-led movements call on their institutions to “Divest From Death.”

By: Kaia Mann, Opinion Editor

Hundreds of people show up at UCLA to protest the war in Gaza; both from the pro-Palestine side and pro-Israel side. Photo taken at UCLA’s Dickson Plaza on Sunday, April 28, 2024 (Victoria Saxxon | Valley Star)

Students from some of the most prestigious educational institutions around the country gathered in the thousands over the past few weeks calling for their schools to end their support of Israel and sever ties with the corporations doing business in and profiting from the country. Amidst the growing violence and counter protests in schools like UCLA, the various universities have responded through police involvement, mass arrests, and suspensions.

Student demonstrators from over 70 colleges nationwide including Harvard, Columbia, USC, UCLA vow to maintain their presence, even as efforts escalate to quell these protests in the wake of reports of anti-Semitic behavior. Throughout the UCLA encampments there have been counter protests of pro-Palestine and pro-Israel groups. On Tuesday night, things took a decidedly violent turn when pro-Israel groups ambushed the student encampments, throwing fireworks into the crowds, beating protesters with sticks, using bear mace, and more.

“For all the school’s pretense of student safety, we have experienced an unprecedented amount of violence and hatred while they stood by,” said the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment in a press release following the attacks. “We ask yet again- no, we demand that the university end this sham. The sham of pretending that the school is neutral- it has chosen genocide before and chooses it again.”

The most recent surge of activism in the last weeks has been driven by the protests at Columbia University, starting on April 17. The president of the Ivy league school, Minouche Shafik pledged to balance the free speech rights on the campus with the wishes of those affected by the reportedly anti-semitic views of the gatherings. Shafik responded by sending law enforcement in with riot gear, arresting over 100 participants and suspending any students they were able to identify. A mass arrest such as this in Colombia has not happened since the anti-war protests of the 1970s.

As USC protesters took over the college’s Alumni park, in the "Cut Ties with Genocide: Divest from Death" coalition, school officials announced the cancellation of the 2024 commencement ceremony set for May 8-11. Other schools have moved asynchronous or canceled classes all together.

“Take a look at just how many students turned out to support our families and to demand their tuition dollars go towards the community and not towards war, not towards destruction, not towards dropping bombs on our families,”said Ahmed Hassan a UCLA alum at the protests on April 28.

While many of these demonstrations throughout the country have started out peaceful, some have diverged and become violent. As Colombia enters the third week of protests, there have been claims that outsiders infiltrated the demonstration, preaching anti-semetic views.

"What may have started as a group of Columbia students wanting to express their constitutional right to protest has drawn crowds of outside agitators who are trying to hijack a peaceful protest and turn it into something far more sinister,” said the NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry on social media.

College students have had a long history of activism with campuses historically priding themselves as a center of free speech. In the 1960s, Berkeley students famously protected their free-speech rights and right to protest, ushering in this era of increased activism. Today the schools affected by the Palestine protests continue to take precautions to put an end to the disturbances while the students themselves stand strong.

“The right to protest is fundamental within the United States, and certainly at postsecondary institutions,” said Valley President Barry Gribbons. “That said, protests need to be peaceful. We can’t have folks being destructive and hurting each other.”

Valley’s campus has been quiet in terms of student protests, but it does have four free speech zones marked on campus maps, near the student Union Plaza, LARC, Student Services plaza and and just outside of Monarch Hall.

“I think it's very important that the freedom of speech is present on campuses and I think that students should try to push for the changes,” said Valley College student Alina Lysak. “I feel like it's great that UC campuses, most of them, are not using violence to shut them down. There is no need to arrest [student protestors], as long as they are not violent.”