Hundreds of students, faculty members and supporters gathered on Cal State Long Beach’s upper campus Thursday morning for a demonstration supporting Palestine and calling for an end to military action in Gaza.
As they marched through campus, students shouted slogans demanding the Cal State University system divest from any company or fund profiting from the war in Gaza.
“CSU you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” the group chanted.
During an hourslong rally outside Brotman Hall protesters used chairs and umbrellas to build makeshift barricades to block entrances to the plaza. Some entrances remained open and groups of people still moved freely through the area.
Hundreds sat quietly in the plaza and listened to speakers who demanded the CSU system call for a ceasefire and acknowledge Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
A CSULB spokesman said the campus remained open and operating normally Thursday, but the university sent an alert to faculty, staff and students urging them to avoid the area. A smaller number of protesters continued to rally into the evening, sometimes marching to the Walter Pyramid.
In a statement, CSULB’s Chief Financial Officer Scott Apel said the university’s investments do not support the war in Gaza.
“The University does not purchase individual stocks as part of our investment programs; our assets instead taking the form of blended funds,” he said.
CSULB President Jane Close Conoley said in a statement that she supported students’ right to demonstrate, but deplored the “recent appearance” of posters with pictures of members of a Jewish student group called Hillel.
“Posting pictures of our students crosses a line into threatening behavior that wreaks of antisemitism,” the president said. “Such posters do not represent an anti-war sentiment, which likely would rally support from many groups, but rather a cold indifference to Hillel members’ sense of belonging and security at The Beach.”
The march cames amid significant disruptions and clashes with police at other schools and a heated nationwide debate about the limits of free speech and the right to protest on college campuses.
Best view I can get of the size of the crowd at CSULB’s pro-Palestine protest. There’s more people watching from outside makeshift barricades at some entrances to the plaza. Other students are still walking through. pic.twitter.com/XA2ZmAsWcA
— Jeremiah Dobruck (@jeremiahdobruck) May 2, 2024
At Columbia University, New York police arrested more than 100 people who had occupied a building on campus. At UCLA, counter-protesters attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment before police — who did not intervene to stop the attacks — swept through in riot gear and forcibly cleared out the camp, CalMatters reported. UCLA announced Thursday that classes were canceled.
A press release announcing the planned march at CSULB did not indicate any intent for students to set up an encampment.
If an encampment were erected “that activity would be a violation of campus policy,” spokesman spokesman Gregory Woods said.
Faculty members also participated in Thursday’s marc. A group called Faculty for Justice in Palestine @ Cal State Long Beach urged instructors to join the protest and excuse absences from any students who attended.
The group demanded that CSULB divest from any funds with ties to Israel and released a statement calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
“We proudly stand with CSULB students who are taking action to voice their outrage, condemn genocide and support a free Palestine,” the group said in a post on Instagram.
As the march began Thursday morning, about half a dozen members of a Jewish student club stood nearby, showing their disapproval.
They said the demonstrators were ignorant, as evidenced by their occasional use of chants praising the intifada or saying “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which many people see as calling for the obliteration of the Jewish state, while many other see it as a call for peace in Palestine.
“It shows they don’t care about Jewish life,” Jenna Klinghoffer, one club member said of the chants.