Last spring, after 93 protesters of conscience were arrested on the University of Southern California’s campus, and students and faculty were threatened with civil and academic sanctions, USC President Carol Folt seemed to be searching for a way out.
“What we’re really trying to do now is de-escalate,” Folt told the USC Academic Senate in May, as faculty pressed her on why she called in a heavily armed Los Angeles police force to quell peaceful student protests and dismantle their encampment.
She also claimed she would have “gone out there” herself before the police raid. The encampment was a two-minute walk from her office. Had she made the short stroll, she could have learned firsthand about the nature of the encampment: a peaceful, interfaith gathering of students and faculty to bear witness to Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. Regular encampment activities included yoga, meditation, teach-ins, Black-Palestinian solidarity sessions, and regular Seders during Passover. But our president didn’t make that walk. “I don’t know why I didn’t,” she told the Academic Senate. “I regret that.”
USC’s actions since then bely Folt’s words. Like many other universities nationwide in the era of Gaza solidarity, our administrators are doubling down on repressive measures.
After the protests last spring, USC security, sometimes accompanied by off-duty police officers trained in “crowd management operations”, maintained a tight ring around campus. This fall, they have “welcomed” new students with metal bars, security checkpoints, bag checks and mandatory ID scans.
The university administration has also raised the pressure on students and faculty facing sanctions, sending threatening letters and calling them in for disciplinary hearings. Students have been made to write “reflection papers” expressing their remorse and a statement of “what you’ve learned” before any sanctions can be dropped.
“How did your actions affect other university community members and their scheduled activities in the affected spaces?” asked one redacted letter from the Orwellian-sounding USC’s Office of Community Expectations. “Please share how you might make different decisions in the future and expand on your rationale.”
In a typical sunny USC fashion, the draconian restrictions – “fast lanes”, “welcome service tents” and additional open gates – have been sold as conveniences. But make no mistake: our campus is on lockdown, “for the foreseeable future”, according to a campus-wide email. In other words: don’t expect a return to a more open campus any time soon – if ever. The reason? “Security on campus remains our top priority.”
So much for the olive branch.
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