USC Faculty March in Support of Student Protesters

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Dozens of USC faculty members held a march through the campus Wednesday in support of pro-Palestinian protesters, calling in part amnesty for those who were arrested during a massive demonstration last week.

The Wednesday march was proceeding peacefully, with some students joining the faculty in the late-afternoon procession. It was held hours after a virtual meeting that was held between some faculty representatives and USC President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman.

Folt wrote on social media Wednesday afternoon that the meeting was held "to explain our reasoning and answer their thoughtful and direct questions about our recent decisions."

"Rich & sometimes opposing views are essential to a great university," Folt wrote. "Trust is built every day & we hope this was a step forward."

Folt on Tuesday met for a second straight day with representatives of the protesters who have been demonstrating on the campus. The session appeared to have limited results, with protesters continuing to press their demands, which include divestment from Israel and from companies with financial ties to Israel.

"I had a second meeting today with the same group from the encampment," Folt said in a statement Tuesday following the meeting. "We brought some very specific proposals that would address concerns they had about the endowment, which they have said is one of their most important issues. I deeply respect the passion they feel for their cause and recognize the pain and suffering taking place in our own community as well as in the Middle East. Unfortunately, they seemed more interested in having me issue a political statement in support of their viewpoint as opposed to coming up with practical solutions to resolve the situation."

Speaking to a reporter with the independent student-led media platform Annenberg Media after the meeting, Folt said, "I hope we continue to have meaningful conversations," she said, calling the dialogue "interesting and important."

In a statement Tuesday night to the Daily Trojan, the campus newspaper, the USC Divest from Death Coalition wrote it was "once again ... deeply disappointed" after its second meeting with Folt, General Counsel Beong- soo Kim and Vice President of Student Life Monique Allard.

Folt told organizers "supposedly less than 2% of USC's endowment is invested in companies actively contributing to the genocide," the statement read, which they calculated as $152 million. The Daily Trojan could not immediately confirm the number.

"The administration is aware of where its money goes, and chooses to withhold information from its communities," organizers wrote. "Transparency is within reach: they simply refuse and defer to bureaucratic internal processes that fail to meet any of our demands."

Folt and other administrators also "refuse to acknowledge the genocide in Palestine," organizers wrote, despite negotiators in the meeting "informing her of the numerous international bodies, genocide scholars, human rights organizations, and the overwhelming majority of the world who recognize its factual legitimacy."

"We do not want a 'political statement' from USC, as Folt alleges in her inaccurate account of our meeting," the statement read. "We demand a `practical solution' in the form of divestments and disclosures."

A mass protest and march on the USC campus last week led to 93 arrest of people who refused orders to vacate Alumni Park. USC officials accused participants in that day's march of vandalizing buildings and violating university rules against camping, erecting tents and posting signs.

Protest participants insisted they were engaged in a peaceful action that was escalated by law enforcement. They have also lashed out at USC for inflaming the issue by canceling a commencement speech by pro-Palestinian valedictorian Asna Tabassum.

Protesters re-established a camp at USC over the weekend, and it has been allowed to remain in place.

USC became a focal point of Southland Palestinian protests following its decision to cancel Tabassum's commencement speech in response to complaints about online posts that critics called antisemitic. USC officials insisted the move was solely a security issue, not a political decision.

As tensions continued mounting -- leading to last Wednesday's mass protest -- the university eventually opted to cancel its May 10 main stage commencement in Alumni Park altogether, but vowed to move forward with the usual array of smaller satellite graduation ceremonies for the school's individual colleges.