The action adds USC to a growing list of college campuses across the nation that have seen encampments and ongoing protests.
Several dozen pro-Palestinian students began an occupation of USC’s Alumni Park on Wednesday, April 24, and issued a list of demands including university divestment from any organizations that “profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine.”
Organizers of the USC occupation — identifying themselves as the USC Divest from Death Coalition — issued a statement saying the action is “in solidarity with the people of Palestine as they resist genocide and continue in their struggle for liberation. … Several dozen students began the encampment early Wednesday morning. USC police instructed students to not hang signs, flags or other materials from trees and posts in the park, and warned them to not use megaphones.
USC Provost Andrew Guzman insisted in his message announcing the decision that the move in no way diminished “the remarkable academic achievements of any student considered or selected for valedictorian. To be clear: this decision has nothing to do with freedom of speech. There is no free-speech entitlement to speak at a commencement. The issue here is how best to maintain campus security and safety, period.
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