Campus protests widen; Bay Area USC student could miss second graduation
PALO ALTO, Calif. - At colleges and universities all over the nation, protests have taken hold. University of California Berkeley, Columbia, University of Southern California, and now Stanford.
Students at Stanford are heading into their second night of a tent city in the middle of campus.
But the way universities are handling these protests is not at all the same. And in one case, a local student who attends USC might miss her second graduation ceremony.
Compared to some of the confrontations at campuses like Columbia in New York and USC in Los Angeles, what is happening at Stanford has been peaceful so far. A tent city has been set up at White Memorial Plaza right next to the Stanford bookstore where students first set up tents after the rally on Thursday night.
On Friday afternoon, students were mostly keeping to themselves in a cordoned-off area of the plaza. There were no bullhorns nor speeches. It was just food, music and camaraderie.
Organizers say the goal of this protest is very focused.
Protesters want Stanford to first disclose its investments related to any corporations profiting from the conflict in Gaza and then to divest.
"The ceasefire call is definitely part of it. But I think we understand that within our very local context as Stanford University students, we can make the most impact on a ceasefire by building on this huge pile of pressure where divestment and company pressure is a very clear part of that picture," said Youngu Kim, a Stanford student and a spokesperson for the protest movement.
On Friday, Stanford released this statement:
"While Stanford understands students’ perspectives on an important global issue, violations of university policy will not be overlooked. The submission of student names to the Office of Community Standards student conduct process has begun." The university also sent a message to the full community saying that the overnight tents are a safety and security issue, and they are a clear violation of university policy.
Friday night, a crowd of 250 protesters chanted and marched in circles. There were more than a dozen tents present. KTVU's news crew did not see any police presence at the protests.
At USC, campus leaders have taken a different approach and called in the police to break up protests. Now, administrators have announced that university-wide graduation ceremonies have been canceled.
"Obviously, it has been a possibility for a few weeks given USC’s decision to pull our valedictorian speech. We have known it was possible for a few weeks because of the turmoil on campus," said Meera Popli, a USC senior who is from Pleasanton.
While Popli is holding out hope, some sort of smaller degree-level ceremonies will occur. USC’s decision means she could miss her second graduation ceremony. "I was crestfallen because this is the culmination of the four years at USC, and we have worked so hard for this and for four years this has been our shot at redemption like, ‘we are finally going to get to walk’ because none of us got to walk during graduation in 2020 due to COVID," Popli said.
Her father, Sunil Popli, agrees: "To not have you know the final moment of – you know the moment in the sun for the kids – I feel terrible for them," Popli said.
At Stanford, students are not saying definitively if they plan to keep their tents up for a second night, in violation of university policies. Campus public safety officers can be seen watching over the protests, but there has been no direct interaction.
