California colleges boost campus security in response to recent anti-Israel protests
Students have reported being subject to additional security screenings when returning to campus recently.
'It feels like a fortress closing itself down to the community,' one USC student told the Los Angeles Times.
In the wake of widespread anti-Israel demonstrations during the past school year, major California universities have increased security restrictions on protests in an effort to bolster campus safety.
Lawrence Sung, a senior at the University of Southern California (USC) told the Los Angeles Times that the new efforts, which included ID scans and increased vetting of student bags and personal items, seemed excessive to him, going so far as to compare the campus of USC to a fortress.
“It’s overblown,” he stated. “It feels like a fortress closing itself down to the community.”
A federal judge previously ordered administrators at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to issue a directive increasing security measures after a days-long anti-Israel encampment turned violent, resulting in clashes between protesters, counter-protesters, and law enforcement officials.
The Jewish Faculty Resilience Group, one of UCLA’s faculty associations, praised the resulting directive enacted by UC President Michael Drake, stressing that the university must take all necessary steps to protect students and faculty from violence.
According to a statement from the group reported by the Los Angeles Times, the university “must ensure that all people — regardless of religion, nationality or beliefs and other categories protected by law, including Jews and Zionists, must be able to work, learn and live on campus free from exclusion, discrimination and intimidation.”
Some have criticized the increased security measures, suggesting that California’s universities are using student safety as a justification for needlessly increasing oversight from law enforcement.
Benjamin Kersten, a graduate student at UCLA who participated in the encampment last semester, objected to President Drake’s new policies, characterizing them as a threat to public safety.
“The idea of Jewish safety is once again being deployed to enact policies that invite greater police presence, which is part of what exposed me and many of my peers to violence and now also to risk public health,” Kersten told the Los Angeles Times. “The university is taking an authoritarian response to political dissent. ... We need more just and democratic investment practices. That’s what’s at the crux of this and this is how the university is responding.”
Campus Reform has contacted Michael Drake, USC, and UCLA for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.