Occidental Students for Justice in Palestine (Oxy SJP) held a press conference July 29 in front of the entrance to the college to publicize and protest charges brought by Occidental to three students following the April 25 protest at President Tom Stritikus’s inauguration. Roughly 30 people were in attendance, including reporters from KTLA5 and ABC7, as speeches were made by both members of the college community and by advocates from local groups.
According to Evan Zeltzer (sophomore), the first speaker at the July 29 press conference, the hearings for the students began July 30. Occidental’s Jewish Voices for Peace (Oxy JVP) Media Liaison Tobias Lodish (junior) said the conduct office told the students that they should hear results about a week after the hearings. Lodish said the July 30 hearing was five hours long, and the other hearings are scheduled for July 31 and Aug. 1.
Zeltzer said the three students wish to remain anonymous and are facing suspensions and potential expulsion from the college. The identity of the three students facing charges has not been shared by the college. Director of Communications Rachael Warecki said that the college does not comment on the details of individual student conduct proceedings.
In a statement released June 16, the college said they hired an external firm, Saul Ewing LLP, to “provide an objective and thorough assessment of the evidence” regarding the protest at the April inauguration.
The summary of the firm’s investigation stated the SJP protestors “caused crowding and physical contact on a flight of concrete stairs, and these hazardous conditions resulted in both physical injury to security personnel and emotional distress to several College employees.”
The college’s statement said the protestors violated Occidental’s Right to Dissent and Demonstration Policy and would be held accountable through the college’s student conduct process.
“The evidence collected during this investigation supports the conclusion that the protest was not peaceful, and that protestors intentionally initiated physical contact with unarmed security personnel, among other findings,” the college’s June 16 statement said. “It further supports the conclusion that security personnel acted in defense of themselves and others inside the venue, including by attempting to identify individuals and prevent entry. The investigative report also notes the protestors’ deliberate effort to evade identification and accountability.”
Lodish said this investigation was implicitly biased, as Saul Ewing LLP has expressed pro-Israel support in the past. In an October 2023 post, the firm said “Saul Ewing stands with Israel.”
“There’s no way that a law firm which is explicitly pro-Israel could ever conduct a content-neutral assessment of April 25,” Lodish said.
In a July 29 post released in conjunction with the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Oxy SJP amplified calls for the charges against the students to be dropped immediately, a new investigation to be conducted and a restorative justice process to be adopted.
Kathryn Leonard, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, and Vivian Santiago, Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students, said in a July 25 statement that the college has offered impact circles for staff and will continue efforts to offer spaces for dialogue for the community moving forward.
Their statement outlined the Conduct Council hearing process which includes a formal hearing, a determination based on evidence and an appeals process.
“The goals of this process — as stated in the policy — are to promote accountability, ensure due process and support the educational mission of the institution,” the statement said.
According to Lodish, throughout the July 30 hearing, college officials asked multiple times for the names of the other protestors present on April 25.
“Restorative justice was mentioned multiple times throughout the hearing, yet the conduct process is anything but restorative. It is in all respects punitive,” Lodish said.
Zeltzer said these conduct proceedings could result in the most extreme punitive measures towards students for protesting since the college’s suspensions of Vietnam War protestors. According to The Occidental’s reporting, more than 40 students faced conduct charges in May 1969 for violating the college’s then Right to Dissent policy by obstructing Navy recruiters from entering campus and for engaging in a hunger strike which had 150 participants.
The second speaker at the press conference, a legal fellow from the Muslim empowerment organization Cair LA, voiced concerns that through the selective punishment of these three students, the college is sending a message of alignment with shareholders and the federal government.
According to Lodish, these three students are being targeted in part because of their reliance on financial aid as opposed to other students who were also identified as protestors at the inauguration.
Sara Masaki ’25 spoke at the press conference and said that two of the three students facing charges are people of color. According to Masaki, President Stritikus’s arrival on campus brought a hostile transformation to the college through increased surveillance on students and the hiring of private security.
“Who are you trying to protect?” Masaki said. “What communities are you trying to serve?”
Retired Occidental English professor Warren Montag read a letter at the press conference written by Critical Theory and Social Justice Professor Mary Christianakis.
In the letter, which was also sent to college faculty, staff and the administration, Christianakis said the college’s Right to Dissent policy “reduces protest to a hollow performance.”
“It is a cage with invisible bars: no amplified sound, no blocking access, no structures, no disruption of event and swift dispersal on command,” the letter states. “It is a cage so carefully built that any protest which actually affects the status quo (any protest that feels like protest) is immediately deemed a violation.”
Christianakis additionally said in the letter that moments of learning occur in moments of risk outside of the classroom and should be responded to with principled reflection rather than procedural control.
After multiple speeches voicing wider community support were made, two members of Occidental Alumni for Justice in Palestine (Oxy AJP) spoke, saying that until all charges are dropped, Oxy AJP will withhold all donations to the college.
Lodish said he fears the effects that the potential expulsion or suspension of these students could have on campus protesting.
“If the administration is able to successfully suspend or expel students for political action today, it sets a dangerous new precedent for what will happen to you if you do not protest within the narrow confines that they allow for students,” Lodish said.
Contact Ava LaLonde at lalonde@oxy.edu
Great and clear reporting.