Oxy SJP, Oxy JVP blocked outside Swan Hall, professor falls in physical confrontation with private security

2021
Protesters outside of Swan Hall at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Oct. 7, 2024. Evan Lirette/The Occidental

The Occidental chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (Oxy SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (Oxy JVP), participating in a national Rage Week tied to the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel, were rebuffed by Campus Safety and private security outside of Swan Hall Oct. 7 as they marched toward a Board of Trustees meeting taking place inside the building. Amid the standoff between protesters and security, a private security guard and professor made physical contact, and the professor fell or was pushed to the ground.

Associate Professor of History Michael Gasper shared a video with The Occidental of the incident. The video, taken by a protester standing few feet behind and to the right of the entrance pathway to Swan Hall, shows Gasper and another professor, separated from the protesting students behind them, conversing with four security guards roughly a quarter of the way up the walkway into Swan Hall. Gasper, looking slightly down and away from the guards, tries to walk around the rightmost security guard. The security guard ropes his arm around Gasper’s waist, and they move out of the right of the frame. Two seconds later the video reestablishes on Gasper collapsing in the shrubbery roughly halfway up the main walkway to Swan Hall. Gasper clutches his left knee, which is wrapped in a brace, and struggles to get up as the rightmost security guard continues walking backwards with his hands raised.

Gasper said via email that he was wearing the knee brace because of a severely torn left meniscus.

“I can’t even tell you how angry this whole utterly preposterous incident makes me,” Gasper said via email.

Occidental’s Director of Communications Rachael Warecki said via email that there is a disagreement about what transpired and that the incident is under review.

Protesters outside of Swan Hall at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Oct. 7, 2024. Evan Lirette/The Occidental

Earlier that day at 10:10 a.m., roughly 50 students marched from the AGC steps to the main entrance of Swan Hall, where a Board of Trustees meeting was in progress. Protesters chanted, “Trustees, trustees you can’t hide / We charge you with genocide” and “Long live the Intifada,” among other slogans.

According to the media spokesperson for the protest, Occidental JVP Executive Board member Tobias Lodish (sophomore), Campus Safety selectively allowing students and faculty to enter Swan Hall is a terrible policy.

“It was just wrong of them to do that, especially considering the misconduct from these police officers today. Harassing students, harassing faculty members, not allowing students into academic buildings — it seems like they were in direct violation of the school’s policies,” Lodish said. “Not only was it wrong for the school to bring private security to campus, I think their behavior was inexcusable.”

The protest coincided with Oxy SJP and Oxy JVP’s installment of a day-encampment on the AGC steps as a part of their Week of Rage. Lodish said that students plan to protest from 6 a.m. to midnight, abiding by the college’s updated protest policy, every day this week.

Community guidelines outside of Johnson Hall at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Oct. 7, 2024. Evan Lirette/The Occidental

Lodish said that protesters’ demands include an acknowledgement of a Palestinian genocide from Occidental administration, a realignment of the Board of Trustees behavior with the college’s mission and four cornerstones and a commitment from the administration to keep the Los Angeles Police Department off campus.

During a regularly scheduled all-faculty meeting in Lower Herrick Chapel that began around noon, Oct. 8, Occidental College President Tom Stritikus made statements and listened to questions from roughly 100 faculty members about student demonstrations and the free movement of Occidental community members on campus.  

Stritikus said he could have done a better job communicating to faculty, those who had business in Swan Hall and at large, about the administration’s use of private security to secure the building Oct. 7 while a Board of Trustees meeting took place. 

“It probably was an unforced error,” Stritikus said.

Stritikus said he chose not to change the date of the meeting or move it off campus. According to Stritikus, he did not consult with Faculty Council President John McCormack before deciding to secure Swan Hall during the Board of Trustees meeting. Stritikus said he could not guarantee that the college would not hire private security again in the future, and that bringing police onto campus is “100 percent a last resort.” 

One professor who spoke at the meeting said that she was very chilled by the administration’s response to the protest.

“There’s a really big communication gap about what’s going on,” the professor said.

Campus Security filmed faculty members outside Swan Hall Oct. 7 during the student protests. One professor who spoke at the meeting said that Campus Security’s actions made him feel “wrong in the gut.” Another professor said that being filmed “is provocation, not de-escalation.”

Occidental’s General Counsel and member of the senior leadership team Nora Kahn said, “Once there is something happening, we need to make sure there is evidence being collected.”  

A professor who spoke at the meeting said that Occidental’s Right to Dissent and Demonstration Policy pays lip service to students’ right to protest. According to the policy, Occidental is allowed to limit the time, place and manner of any form of protest or dissent under federal law. According to California’s Leonard Law, private colleges cannot punish conduct or speech that is protected under the First Amendment or a similar section in the Constitution of California. 

During the meeting, several faculty members made an unsuccessful motion to amend the meeting agenda to discuss and vote on a resolution calling on the administration to not bring LAPD or private security on campus.  

Roughly 100 people established a day-encampment on the Academic Quad Oct. 8, encircling the middle of the Academic Quad at 11:30 a.m. and chanting, “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”  

This story was updated at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8 to include information from the faculty meeting and the protesters’ actions on Oct. 8.

Contact James Miller at jmiller4@oxy.edu 

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4 COMMENTS

  1. This article has no counterpoints to help people understand why these protesters weren’t allowed in the building. Palestinian protesters have caused a tremendous amount of damage and disruption, and have intimidated and physically harmed Jewish students. Portland State College Pro Pali protesters did over $1 million of damage to the library. I haven’t seen one pro Israel rally that caused damage. If you’re going to write an article about why they weren’t let in, you owe it to your readers to let them know a comprehensive situational view.

    On another note, its likely that you’ve only been hearing one side and it’s Iranian propaganda. Please let me know if you’d like some education.

  2. “day-encampment”?????? The literal definition of an encampment is an overnight occupation of a space. Get your facts right – this demonstration is not an encampment(or admin would be freaking out much more).

  3. Protests are by nature disruptive. They should be. They have to be.

    Limiting how protests can and should happen is a disservice to free speech and cheapens the college’s commitment to upholding student voices. Do we only value protests when the proper spaces have been reserved and no one is too inconvenienced?

    That doesn’t mean that people should get physically hurt or be unsafe, but shame on anyone who calls into question the rights of these students and individuals who are standing up for what they believe in. Brava to the work being done to divest from Israel and the efforts to help Oxy align with the values they claim to have. May all students and faculty be granted amnesty.

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