After violence at an encampment at UCLA broke out earlier this week between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and pro-Israel counterprotesters, officials at campuses across Southern California began tightening security measures in a variety of ways in an effort to ensure student safety as the end of the school year looms.
Student-led demonstrations have taken center stage at several schools this week, forcing colleges administrators to juggle complex safety and security issues while allowing students — on both sides of the ongoing Gaza conflict — to be heard and exercise free speech.
Early Thursday, May 2 on UCLA’s campus, officials shut down a weeklong protest hours after police in riot gear dismantled a massive encampment outside of Royce Hall, and arrested more than 100 demonstrators, according to reports. UCLA officials said all campus operations would be “limited” on Thursday and Friday, and all normally in-person classes would be “required to pivot to remote” on those days.
Tensions over the way colleges respond to students’ demands amid the conflict have escalated, at a time when many graduating students are not only preparing for final exams, but for various graduation ceremonies and events to cap off a busy school year.
Turmoil has also escalated at USC, which found itself making national headlines after administrators canceled the commencement speech by Muslim, pro-Palestinian valedictorian Asna Tabassum of Chino Hills over safety concerns, triggered by what critics called anti-Israel social media views. A backlash over that decision from USC students and outside groups prompted the university to cancel all graduation speakers and honorees at its main commencement ceremony.
Then, just days after police arrested nearly 100 protesters on campus, officials canceled the “main stage” commencement — which typically draws in thousands, scheduled for Friday, May 10 — altogether. Officials have said they will continue to hold dozens of smaller traditional graduation ceremonies and receptions during Commencement Week, between May 8 and 11, and have “additional security measures,” such as ticketing and a clear bag policy.
“With the new safety measures in place this year, the time needed to process the large number of guests coming to campus will increase substantially,” USC officials wrote in a campus-wide message.
Some students have expressed their disappointment — including the USC Hillel group, which in response has organized its own Jewish Communal Commencement with Chabad at USC on May 10.
A week after opting to cancel the main stage commencement, USC officials announced plans to hold a “Trojan Family Graduate Celebration” at the LA Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night, May 9.
The event will include “drone shows, fireworks, surprise performances, the Trojan Marching Band, and a special gift just for the Class of 2024,” according to the website. The event is being billed as a chance for graduates to “celebrate your accomplishments in a big way and come together as a Trojan Family.”
Next week’s Graduate Celebration will be restricted to a portion of the Coliseum — which had limited availability on short notice, officials said — and each graduate will be limited to six tickets. Other security details were not yet made public.
With all the events less than a week away, and campus protests still continuing, school administrators updated security measures on Thursday — limiting entry to three locations with only USC students, faculty, staff, registered guests and “known vendors with confirmation of work” allowed on campus. All ID cards will be scanned at entryways, and all bags are subject to search.
Other colleges — while not outright canceling commencement — have sought to keep things as they are while taking cautious steps to prioritize student safety at all events.
UCLA, which does not have valedictorians or a “main” graduation ceremony like at USC, is planning multiple college ceremonies June 14-16. Information on security policies was not immediately available on the school’s website.
Despite the campus’ heavily battered “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” being shut down — which officials said drew a crowd estimated in the low thousands over the past few days — UCLA students vowed that their efforts to stand in solidarity with Gaza “were not over.”
At UC Irvine, which has a Gaza solidarity encampment now on its fifth day on campus, there have been “no changes to any commencement plans, as of yet,” said spokesperson Michael Uhlenkamp. The school will host graduation events from early May through mid-June, and does not have valedictorian speakers.
Chapman University — where students started forming a small Gaza solidarity encampment Thursday in front of Wilkinson Hall — has ceremonies scheduled from May 17 through 19. Officials said earlier that the university is still in the midst of commencement planning, and is continuing to monitor political activities on campus, as the school year wraps up.
Students at Cal State Fullerton also led a pro-Palestinian protest on campus this week. The school — which is hosting 12 graduation events for over 13,000 students, and thousands more attendees — will maintain security protocols at the May 20-23 ceremonies, officials said. There will be a clear-bag policy and a walk-through security screening system for all graduates and guests, and prohibited items include noisemakers, weapons and laser pointers.
“The university will respond accordingly” to any occupations on campus during the last few weeks of classes, said spokesperson Cerise Valenzuela Metzger on Thursday.
Cal State Long Beach has been the site of multiple protests and vigils, including a peaceful campus-wide march with students and faculty on Thursday, in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. Spokesperson Gregory Woods said that safety during commencement — planned for May 19 through 23 at Angel Stadium — is “central to our planning.” Over 16,000 students are eligible to participate in one of the university’s 10 planned ceremonies at the stadium, with up to 12 guests each. On the school’s commencement website, stadium policy does not allow posters, noisemakers or confetti.
Hundreds of protestors marched through campus during Thursday’s demonstration. School officials were prepared by increasing the number of “student affairs professionals onsite and reviewing security protocols,” Woods said.
“University leadership has been actively monitoring the event to ensure the safety of both protest participants and the broader campus community. If there is important information to share, the university homepage will be updated,” Woods said.
Cal State LA students started a “May Day for Palestine” demonstration and encampment on campus Wednesday, May 1, which entered its third day Friday. Spokesperson Victor M. Rojas Jr. said the university has “no plans to alter our traditional commencement” on May 20 and 21 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Rojas added that all graduation events have proper protocols to “ensure a safe and celebratory environment for all participants and attendees.”
According to campus policy, any vandalism, theft, destruction of state property or intimidation of targeted groups — including other students and university faculty and staff — will not be tolerated “for the safety of everyone on our campus,” a CSULA spokesperson said Wednesday, but officials will “monitor the situation closely but our priority is the safety of our students, faculty and staff.”
At Cal State Northridge, students led a pro-Palestine demonstration on Wednesday, May 1. Officials said that the commencement ceremonies for more than 11,000 students will go on as scheduled on campus from May 17-20. The school’s website includes messaging on how it will handle security through the Department of Police Services, including metal detector screenings and a one-bag policy.
“At this time, there are no real changes to our security protocols from previous commencements,” said spokesperson Javier Rojas on Friday.
After demonstrators and administration successfully negotiated an agreement, UC Riverside students agreed to end their student-led “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” after five days in front of the campus Bell Tower on Friday. Student leaders said that “all of our demands” will be met “to fully end this university’s complicity in genocide.”
Commencement events for over 6,700 eligible graduates — scheduled from late May through mid-June at the Toyota Arena in Ontario — will still continue, UCR officials said. Spokesperson Sandra Martinez said that university, venue and city police will focus on “ensuring the highest level of safety for our community and guests during this time of celebration of academic success.”
Senior Hibah Nassar, one of the student leaders of the campus rallies this week, said that “as we’re approaching graduation season,” she was thinking of a cousin, whom she said was nearing graduation when she and her family were killed in a Gaza bombing.
After Friday’s agreement with school officials was announced, Nassar told fellow protestors, “You will all go down in history for today’s victory.”
UCR “values students’ right to practice peaceful free speech, as well as our Principles of Community and the safety of our students, staff, faculty, and visitors,” wrote chancellor Kim Wilcox in a community letter.
Cal Poly Pomona expects around 6,900 graduates in the Class of 2024, with 62,000 guests to attend the 12 main ceremonies, planned for May 17 through 20 in the school quad, officials said.
Pro-Palestinian student demonstrators marched around the Cal Poly Pomona campus earlier this week. There were no encampments or demonstrations on campus as of Thursday.
“Cal Poly Pomona is focused on keeping our community safe, ensuring teaching and critical university functions are not interrupted. The respectful exchange of ideas and learning from others are central to our academic mission,” said spokesperson Cynthia Peters. “We support our community members’ rights of free speech and to peacefully assemble. We have campus safety plans in place for various scenarios and are watching events at other universities to learn any useful lessons.”
Peters said that commencement organizers, university officials and police are working together on plans “to ensure the safety of all commencement ceremonies.” This will include “appropriate police and security staffing,” ticketed entrances and bag checks.
At Cal State San Bernardino, where on Thursday students began protesting for the liberation of Palestinians, commencement ceremonies are planned for May 17 and 18 at the Toyota Arena. Spokesperson Alan Llavore said previously that university and city police will be present to ensure “that commencement can take place with little to no disruptions.”
At Pomona College, part of The Claremont Colleges, commencement activities are planned for the weekend of May 10 through May 12. Tickets were not required.
Spokesperson Patricia Vest said Friday that the “College’s priority is to provide a safe environment to celebrate the accomplishments of the graduating class.”
After the arrest of 20 Pomona College students who occupied an administrative office, in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, a petition was released with 80 faculty members in support of a student referendum to divest from Israel. The petition then led to a faculty vote to discuss a stance on divestment.
On Thursday, Pomona College faculty voted in the majority to “divest from corporations complicit with war crimes and other human rights violations committed by the Israeli government in Israel/Palestine,” according to a news release from Pomona Divest from Apartheid. 140 Pomona College Faculty members participated in the vote, with 64% agreeing to divest, the release said.
Pomona College faculty have become one of the first in the nation to vote in majority for divestment from Israel, according to the release.
Across the way at Pitzer College, students were still sitting in Friday, after several days on the commencement lawn in support of Palestinians. The Class of 2024 will graduate on Saturday, May 11 with civil rights activist Jim Obergefell as the keynote speaker.
“The Claremont Colleges have a tradition of student activism, and protests have been common this year,” Vest said. “Students have the right to protest in line with our demonstration policy, and such activity may be present during commencement.”
Staff writers Sarah Hoffman, Mercedes Cannon-Tran, Clara Harter, Annika Bahnsen, Victoria Ivie and City News Service contributed to this report.
