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University of Southern California law student Elizabeth Howell-Egan is not allowed on campus because of her role in anti-war protests last spring, but she continues her activism.

She and like-minded students are holding online sessions on the Israel-Hamas war and handing out leaflets outside the campus, which is now fortified with checkpoints at entrances and demanding security guards for students to scan IDs.

“Change is never comfortable. You always have to risk something to create change and to create a future 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 divert from to companies that benefit from it. the war

The stakes have risen this fall for students protesting the war in Gaza, as US colleges introduced new security measures and protest guidelines – all intended to avoid disruptions such as pro-democracy demonstrations. Palestine last spring and protecting students from hate speech. Activism has put their degrees and careers at risk, not to mention tuition fees, but many say they feel a moral responsibility to continue the movement.

Tent camps – now banned on many campuses – have so far not returned. And some of the students most involved last spring have graduated or are still facing disciplinary measures. Still, student activists are finding other ways to protest, embodied by the growing death toll in Gaza and massive protests this month in Israel to demand a ceasefire.

Tensions over the conflict have been high on American campuses since the war began on October 7, when militants led by Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 hostage. The war in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 people, according to Gaza health officials.

As the pro-Palestinian demonstrations have begun nationally, Jewish students on many campuses have faced hostility, including anti-Semitic language and signs. Some colleges have faced civil rights investigations in the US and settled lawsuits claiming they have not done enough to address anti-semitism.

A desire ‘to be part of something’

Temple University senior Alia Amanpour Trapp began the school year on probation after being arrested twice last semester during pro-Palestinian protests. Within days, she was back on the university’s radar for another demonstration.

As she reflects on the outcome of her activism, she thinks of her grandfather, a political prisoner who was killed in the 1988 massacres organized by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini.

“He paid the ultimate price for what he believed in. And so I feel the least I can do is stand my ground and face it,” he said.

Trapp, a political science major, donates much of her time outside of classes to Students for Justice in Palestine, which led to the back-to-school protest on August 29. The group of a few dozen protesters made several stop, including outside. the Rosen Center, a hub of Jewish life that houses Temple’s Hillel Chapter.

Some Jewish students inside said they were shaken by the demonstration. Protesters used megaphones to direct conversations toward people inside, Temple President Richard Englert said. The university called it a scare and opened an investigation.

“Targeting a group of individuals because of their Jewish identity is not acceptable and intimidation and harassment tactics such as those seen today will not be tolerated,” Englert said.

Trapp said they were not out to scare anyone, but to condemn Hillel for what he called support for Zionism. “To the students inside who felt threatened or harmed, I’m sorry,” he said.

Trapp is appealing a Temple panel’s ruling that she violated the college’s code of conduct last spring. As she reflects on the discipline, she remembers a Temple billboard she saw on Interstate 95 after her first visit to campus.

“Because the world won’t change itself,” says the ad. He reassured her that Temple was the right fit. “I wanted so badly to be a part of something, you know, meaningful,” she said, “a community committed to change.”

A renewed effort to divest

At Brown University, some students who were arrested last spring are taking another tack to pressure the Ivy League school to divest its endowment from companies with ties to Israel.

Last spring, the university committed to an October vote by its governing board on a divestment proposal, 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 voted on a pro-divestment platform, say they plan to push for a pro-divestment vote. They rally students to attend a series of forums and encourage new students to join the movement.

Colleges have long rebuffed calls to divest from Israel, which opponents say veer into antisemitism. Brown is already facing heat for even considering the vote, including a blistering letter from two dozen state attorneys general, all Republicans.

Rafi Ash, a member of Brown University Jews For Ceasefire Now and Brown Divest Coalition, declined to say what activism might look like if the divestment campaign fails. A Jewish student who was among 20 students arrested during a sit-in at an administration building in November, Ash dismisses critics who see the anti-war protests as anti-Semitic.

“The Judaism 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 act I can do, which is to stand up for justice, for everyone.”

Banned from campus, but strategic on protests

For Howell-Egan, the conflict at USC and her suspension deepened her desire to speak out.

“Even with this threat of USC imposing sanctions and disciplinary measures, I’m at peace with it because I’m standing up for something that’s important,” Howell-Egan said. “There are no more universities in Gaza. We are in an extremely privileged position for this to be a risk for us.”

She is not allowed to attend in-person classes because she was suspended in May for joining protests at the private school in Los Angeles.

There has been a trend toward heavier punishments for students who engage in activism than in the past, including expulsion from campus and suspensions that keep students “in limbo for months,” said Tori Porell, an attorney with Palestine Legal, non-profit, which has supported student protesters facing disciplinary measures. Howell-Egan sees it as part of a strategy to stifle free speech.

In a memo this month, USC President Carol Folt said the campus has seen peaceful protests and marches for years. “However, the spring semester brought events that tested our values, overruled our policies, fueled fears, and required unprecedented security measures,” he said.

For now the focus of the USC Divest Coalition, which includes several student organizations, has shifted off campus, to incorporate the wider community and take a cautious approach as students get to grips with the university’s new rules, Howell-Egan said. .

In addition to the community outreach, students have been holding teaching sessions.

“The idea is to raise our skill set and our understanding of where we stand in this moment, and where we are in this fight,” Howell-Egan said, “especially as we continue with it.”

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