University of Southern California law student Elizabeth Howell-Egan has been banned from campus for her role in the anti-war protests of last springbut she continues to engage in activism.
She and like-minded students hold online sessions about the War between Israel and Hamas and handing out flyers outside the campus, which is now equipped with checkpoints at entrances and security guards asking students to scan their IDs.
“Change is never comfortable. You always have to risk something to create change and create a future that we want to live in,” said Howell-Egan, a member of the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, which is calling on USC to divest from companies that profit from the war.
The stakes have increased this fall for students protesting the war in Gaza, as American universities implement new security measures and protest guidelines — all intended to prevent disruptions like those of last spring pro-palestinian demonstrations and protect students from hate speech. Activism has jeopardized their degrees and careers, not to mention tuition, but many say they feel a moral responsibility to continue the movement.
Tent camps — now banned on many campuses — have not returned so far. And some of the more engaged students from last spring have graduated or are still facing disciplinary actionYet, student activists are finding other ways to protest, encouraged by the rising death toll in Gaza and mass protests this month in Israel demand a ceasefire.
Tensions over the conflict have been running high on American campuses since the war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 hostages. The war in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 people, according to Gaza health officials.
As pro-Palestinian demonstrations gathered pace nationwide, Jewish students on many campuses confronted with hostilityincluded antisemitic language and signsSome universities have faced civil rights investigations in the US and settled lawsuits They claim they have not done enough to tackle anti-Semitism.
Temple University senior Alia Amanpour Trapp started the school year on probation after being arrested twice during pro-Palestinian protests last semester. Within days, she was back on the university’s radar for another protest.
As she reflects on the consequences of her activism, she thinks of her grandfather, a political prisoner who was murdered in the 1988 massacres orchestrated by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini.
“He paid the ultimate price for what he believed in. And so I think the least I can do is stand my ground and face it,” she said.
Trapp, a political science student, spends much of her time outside of class Students for Justice in Palestinewhich led her to the return-to-school protest on August 29. The group of several dozen protesters stopped at several locations, including the Rosen Center, a hub of Jewish life that is also home to Temple’s Hillel Chapter.
Some Jewish students inside said they were shocked by the demonstration. Protesters used bullhorns to direct conversations to people inside, Temple President Richard Englert said. The university called it intimidation and an investigation opened.
“It is not acceptable to target a group of individuals because of their Jewish identity. Intimidation and bullying like we see today will not be tolerated,” Englert said.
Trapp said they were not out to intimidate anyone, but to condemn Hillel for what she called its support of Zionism. “To the students inside who felt threatened or hurt, I’m sorry,” she said.
Trapp is appealing a Temple panel’s ruling that she violated the university’s code of conduct last spring. As she thinks back on the discipline, she recalls a Temple billboard she saw on Interstate 95 after her first visit to campus.
“Because the world won’t change itself,” the ad beckoned. It assured her that Temple was the right fit. “I wanted so badly to be part of something, you know, meaningful,” she said, “a community that’s committed to change.”
At Brown University, some students arrested last spring are using a different tactic to pressure the Ivy League university to cut its donations to companies with ties to Israel.
Last spring, the university promised its board of trustees would vote on a divestment proposal in October after an advisory committee weighed in on the issue. In return, student protesters packed up their tents.
Now students, including Niyanta Nepal, the student body president who was elected on a pro-divestment platform, say they plan to push for a vote in favor of divestment. They are mobilizing students to attend a series of forums and encouraging new students to join the movement.
Universities have long rejected calls for divestment from Israel, which opponents say is sliding into anti-Semitism. Brown is already facing criticism for even considering the vote, including a scathing letter from two dozen state attorneys general, all Republicans.
Rafi Ash, a member of the Brown University Jews For Ceasefire Now and Brown Divest Coalition, declined to say what activism might look like if the divestment effort fails. Ash, a Jewish student who was among 20 students arrested during a November sit-in at an administration building, brushes off critics who see the anti-war protests as anti-Semitic.
“The Judaism that I was taught promotes peace. It promotes justice. It promotes tikkun olam — repairing the world,” said Ash, who is on disciplinary probation. “This is the most Jewish thing I can do, to stand up for justice, for everyone.”
For Howell-Egan, the strict measures at USC and her suspension only strengthened her urge to speak out.
“Even with this threat of sanctions and disciplinary action against USC, I’m okay with it because I’m standing up for something that’s important,” Howell-Egan said. “There are no universities left in Gaza. We’re in an incredibly privileged position that this is our risk.”
She is not allowed to attend physical classes because she was suspended in May for her participation in the classes. protests at the private school in Los Angeles.
There’s a trend toward harsher punishments for students who engage in activism than in the past, including banishment from campus and suspensions that leave students “in limbo for months,” said Tori Porell, an attorney with the nonprofit Palestine Legal, which has supported student protests that have faced disciplinary action. Howell-Egan sees it as part of a strategy to suppress free speech.
In a memo this month, USC President Carol Folt said the campus has seen peaceful protests and marches for years. “The spring semester, however, brought incidents that challenged our values, ignored our policies, stoked fears, and required unprecedented safety measures,” she said.
Howell-Egan said the USC Divest Coalition, which includes several student organizations, is shifting its focus from campus to the broader community, and is taking a cautious approach as students adjust to the university’s new rules.
In addition to social involvement, students also held teach-ins.
“The idea is to increase our capabilities and our understanding of where we are right now and where we are in this fight,” Howell-Egan said, “especially as we continue to do it.”
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