Here is an inside look at the University of Southern California’s repressive laboratory – a possible test case for colleges nationwide.

Last spring, after 93 protesters of conscience were arrested on the University of Southern California’s campus, and students and faculty were threatened with civil and academic sanctions, USC President Carol Folt seemed to be searching for a way out.

“What we’re really trying to do now is de-escalate,” Folt told the USC Academic Senate in May, as faculty pressed her on why she called in a heavily armed Los Angeles police force to quell peaceful student protests and dismantle their encampment.

She also claimed she would have “gone out there” herself before the police raid. The encampment was a two-minute walk from her office. Had she made the short stroll, she could have learned firsthand about the nature of the encampment: a peaceful, interfaith gathering of students and faculty to bear witness to Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. Regular encampment activities included yoga, meditation, teach-ins, Black-Palestinian solidarity sessions, and regular Seders during Passover. But our president didn’t make that walk. “I don’t know why I didn’t,” she told the Academic Senate. “I regret that.”

USC’s actions since then bely Folt’s words. Like many other universities nationwide in the era of Gaza solidarity, our administrators are doubling down on repressive measures.

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