The president of California State University at Los Angeles was briefly barricaded inside a campus building this week after pro-Palestinian activists escalated their protests calling for divestment from Israel.
On Wednesday afternoon, between 50 and 100 activists locked themselves inside a student-services building that houses the president’s office, blocking entrances and exits with furniture. The university, a spokesperson said, directed staff members and others in the building to shelter in place. Some employees were able to leave immediately, but 58 remained inside for two hours, said the spokesperson, Erik Frost Hollins.
Just after 6 p.m., campus police officers made a pathway and escorted out most university staff who remained. President Berenecea Johnson Eanes and a handful of other administrators stayed inside.
Eanes and other officials left the building around midnight Thursday, Hollins said; by 1:15 a.m., most of the activists returned to an existing encampment across campus and police cleared the scene. The university has temporarily shifted classes and operations online.
Hollins declined to provide details on cabinet members’ negotiations with protesters during the barricade, but made clear administrators knew they could leave at any point. There were no arrests. In a message to the campus community, Eanes said four people reported injuries.
‘A Crime Scene’
For the past six weeks, protesters demanding that the Los Angeles campus cut financial ties with Israel amid its war in Gaza have maintained an encampment on campus, like their peers at other institutions. Protesters’ attempt to occupy the building signified an escalation in strategy for a movement that so far has not been able to draw divestment commitments from college presidents.
While some presidents have promised to be more transparent about their institutions’ financial relationships with weapons manufacturers and Israeli companies, administrators who have made concessions have faced pushback from their boards, systems, and donors. Eanes became Cal State-Los Angeles president in January.
In April, near the beginning of the wave of encampments, Cal Poly Humboldt became an epicenter when protesters occupied an administrative building for more than a week. Dozens were arrested, and leaders closed campus down for the rest of the semester. Earlier that month, 20 students were arrested at Pomona College after holing up in its president’s office.
Even though campus protests have slowed in recent weeks as spring terms have ended, activists have continued to put pressure on colleges. Twenty-seven protesters were arrested Monday as they attempted to set up a new encampment on the University of California at Los Angeles campus.
In a Wednesday statement, Cal State-Los Angeles’s chapter of Students For Justice in Palestine claimed responsibility for the protest and said that the action was in reaction to a breakdown in negotiations with the president.
“Delaying negotiations past the end of the spring semester at a commuter campus shows clear bad faith and an attempt to wait out students instead of actively working to reach an agreement,” the statement read.
Images and videos of the aftermath of the sit-in show the building tagged with graffiti, including “blood on your hands,” “Gaza in the heart,” “ACAB,” and “¡fuera sionista!,” which translates from Spanish to “zionist out!”.
Hollins said there was significant damage to the first four floors of the building, but a cost estimate had yet to be determined. Law enforcement was investigating.
“That building is currently a crime scene,” the spokesperson said. “So while law enforcement does its work, we’re not in the space, but eventually we will need to do a full assessment.”
In her statement to the campus, Eanes vowed to hold those identified as having participated in the occupation accountable.
Before Wednesday, her message said, she had been committed to continuing conversations with the encampment. Now, she called on people remaining in the encampment to leave.
“A trust we had in the encampment to practice non-violence has been violated,” she wrote. “Trust is a hard thing to restore, but we will do the work together.”
