At least five Occidental students who participated in Occidental Students for Justice in Palestine (Oxy SJP) and Occidental Jewish Voice for Peace’s (Oxy JVP) Rage Week are now subject to student conduct proceedings, according to Tobias Lodish (sophomore), the media spokesperson for the protests.
The college administration’s response to the Oct. 7 protest outside of Swan Hall, where a Board of Trustees meeting was taking place, was a marked difference from their days-long negotiations with student protesters last spring. Swan Hall was on lockdown for the duration of the Trustees’ meeting.
Casey Scott (sophomore), a participant in Rage Week, said that demonstrators have remained steadfast.
“There’s more important moral standings at large than you getting a conduct violation from Occidental College,” Scott said. “There’s a genocide happening.”
According to Occidental’s protest policy — officially known as the Right to Dissent and Demonstration Policy — federal law allows the college to limit the time, place and manner of any form of dissent and/or protest. Among other prohibitions, Occidental’s protest policy was changed before the start of this academic year, banning the erection of semi-permanent structures, protests inside buildings and protests between midnight and 6 a.m.
A scholar of social movements at the University of California, Irvine, Sociology Professor David S. Meyer said that Pomona College, where 20 students occupying its president’s office in April were arrested, is an interesting comparison to Occidental. Students occupying Occidental’s Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center last November were not subject to conduct proceedings. Meyer said that he does not know of one university that did not issue new rules this fall to prevent the development of encampments.
According to Louis M. Brown Family Professor in Literature in English Warren Montag, treating protesters as threats, as they were outside of Swan Hall Oct. 7, is a departure from the college’s attitude towards demonstrations.
“It’s certainly a departure from the traditions of Oxy,” Montag said. “And I understand that there are people out there who don’t care about, or don’t like, the Oxy traditions.”
When asked if the prohibition on protests between midnight and 6 a.m. is a first step towards prohibiting free speech on campus, President Tom Stritikus said no.
“Students have a broad range of things that they can do to exhibit their opinions,” Stritikus said.
Montag said the protest policy creates precedents for curbing free speech.
“It’s a very harmful development for higher education. You’re basically telling students not to express their views on these things,” Montag said. “It’s extremely demoralizing, and it’s extremely anti-intellectual.”
Meyer said there is nothing magical about encampments as a protest strategy.
“Once you get used to it, it’s not disruptive anymore. The first time you walk by a set of tents on your way to class, your curiosity’s piqued and you may talk to somebody. The thirtieth time, well, maybe it’s not so interesting anymore,” Meyer said. “And that’s always a challenge for protest movements, because they’re constantly looking for places they can escalate without alienating their base or inviting repression. But you can’t just do the same thing.”
Stritikus said he heard from members of the broader Occidental community who thought that the college should not have allowed protests on Oct. 7.
“Our protest policy is neutral of time, space and content. And our following that policy is neutral of time, space and content,” Stritikus said.
According to Meyer, the litmus test for a reasonable time, place or manner restriction is if it is applied equally to all demonstrators, regardless of their message.
“In real life, we know that the encampments are what spurred this new wave of restrictions. So it’s understandable that students who are protesting against the war think that it’s directed against them,” Meyer said. “So, it doesn’t feel so content-neutral.”
Montag said the changes to the protest policy are part of an authoritarian approach to politics.
“Now, it’s almost taken for granted that if you don’t approve of their speech, you should just go out and try to stop them,” Montag said.
In addition to establishing the President’s Advisory Group on Community and Dialogue, Stritikus said he will continue to meet with different student groups, such as SJP, JVP and Hillel, to create spaces for dialogue on campus.
According to Stritikus, the week of Oct. 7 was challenging and multifaceted.
“There were students who felt very connected to this issue, and there were students who, in some ways, weren’t,” Stritikus said.
Montag said that California’s Leonard Law, which extends free speech protections to private college campuses in California, is vague enough that there is quite a bit of room for interpretation.
“For attorneys, the question is, ‘Is there enough leeway that we could make a case for repressing this movement?’” Montag said. “The spirit of the law is to allow people to express themselves unless they’re engaged in violence or destruction.”
Meyer said he thought that President Emeritus Harry Elam was masterful in terms of engaging with the protesters and taking their concerns seriously.
“From what I saw, and I’m sure I didn’t see everything, he was really separating the conduct from the concerns. And he treated the students […] as serious, thoughtful people, and he took what they cared about seriously. It wasn’t just the event itself,” Meyer said. “And I think generally that’s a pretty good strategy, I was surprised more presidents didn’t do it.”
Faculty Council President John McCormack said via email that about 10 faculty informed him that they had trouble accessing their own offices in Swan Hall, or that students had trouble accessing professors’ offices, around the time of the protest.
“Communication with faculty is key as our community attempts to balance protections for speech and protest with policies that are meant to ensure a welcoming and productive learning environment for all,” McCormack said via email.
Contact James Miller at jmiller4@oxy.edu
