Dining hall staff prevents theft as protesters demand free food, tuition

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) staff blocked the entrance to a dining facility to prevent students from entering during a recent protest demanding free tuition and food. 

Protestors handed out flyers in front of De Neve Dining Hall “inviting students to eat for free” and waved signs that read “‘smiles not swipes’ and ‘everything for everyone.’” 

A few students did eat for free before staff members’ quick response, according to a report in the student newspaper, the Daily Bruin. 

Katherine Alvarado, UCLA’s Assistant Director of Media Relations, told Campus Reform that “[t]he entrances to the De Neve Dining Hall were secured by dining staff and no one was permitted to enter the dining hall during the protest.”

“Individuals who were already inside the location when the situation began were able to safely exit after finishing their meals,” Alvarado said. “UCLA respects the rights of individuals to protest, and protesters were not prevented from expressing their voices.” 

[RELATED: UPDATE: Striking staff reportedly block students from their dorms]

A University of California System-wide organization helped advertise the protest. 

“Students should not be debt burdened, rent burdened or food insecure,” an Instagram post by Cops Off Campus UC reads. The Instagram post shared the UCLA dining hall protest and similar protests at other campuses, including the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). 

“Carillo [sic] Dining Commons Is Now Liberated!” one flyer reads. 

The UCLA Cops Off Campus website describes the organization as “speaking out against systemic racism—in order to get Cops Off Campus.”

UCLA Cops Off Campus lists the COLA movement, the organizer of the De Neve Dining Hall protests, as inspiration. 

A COLA organizer told the Daily Bruin that he or she wanted to remain anonymous. 

COLA refers to a cost of living adjustment but “is a catch-all term that organizers often use to refer to other social justice demands aside from the adjustment, such as anti-capitalism, abolishment of [the University of California Police Department (UCPD)] and working against worker exploitation,” according to the Daily Bruin. 

The Cops Off Campus UC website declares its support for “Palestinian Liberation.” 

“Police perpetrate racialized violence themselves and defend the white settler capitalist violence of others,” a statement reads. “They do this in Palestine.” 

Cops Off Campus UC also sells merchandise. 

A tweet from the organization shared a petition “demand[ing] the full defunding of the University of California Police Departments.” 

Campus Reform has reported on other college students demanding free resources or tuition from their university.

[RELATED: Graduate students want to unionize]

Students at the University of Cincinnati (UC) advocated for free laundry while passing out condoms and hot chocolate. The Young Democratic Socialists of America, the Planned Parenthood organization Generation Action, and Students For Justice in Palestine co-hosted the tabling event, according to Campus Reform. 

More recently, a protest at The New School, a New York City private school, demanded “A” grades for the semester and better cafeteria food. Campus Reform reported that, in response to a strike by adjunct faculty, the students also demanded tuition refunds for the strike period and the resignation of the president and other high-level administrators.  

Campus Reform contacted Cops Off Campus UC and the UCLA Police Department for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.