We Are All SJP
Image Description: A student wearing a keffiyeh stands on Royce’s steps with a microphone. A Palestinian flag is behind her. Other students are standing around listening.
On February 13, 2025, just over a month after assuming his new role as Chancellor of UCLA, Chancellor Julio Frenk suspended the student organization, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), in an email titled “A Stand Against Violence in Our Community.” Five days later, the UC Divest coalition gathered in Royce Quad to protest Frenk’s free speech restrictions, as well as his role in committing UCLA dollars towards systemic violence and occupation. This protest took place on the 500th day of genocide in Palestine.
Royce Quad was the site of the first UCLA Solidarity for Palestine encampment– where UCLA permitted a brutal attack from outside agitators against its students, following this violence with administration-sanctioned police brutality. Speakers referenced these experiences frequently throughout the protest on February 18th, criticizing Frenk’s appointment of new police chief Steve Lurie as Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus and Community Safety.
Lurie played a key role in the police response to the May 2024 encampment, in which students were subjected to rubber bullets, flashbangs, and physical violence. He was appointed without the approval of the UCLA Academic Senate, which passed a vote of no confidence against Lurie on February 19.
UCLA’s new “Time, Place, and Manne” policies, designate Royce Quad as an unprotected site. This means UCLA classifies it as a location of restricted free speech, as this constitutional right is now only reserved for specified regions where it sanctions “public expression activities.”
Despite these limitations, around 60 individuals gathered at Royce Quad to protest UCLA’s suspension of SJP, in addition to their many other crimes against the student body and greater world. Throughout the speeches, outside agitators recorded and confronted protesters while ten police officers and four CSC officers observed.
The protest then moved to Murphy Hall, where speeches continued and the crowd grew. It then progressed through Boelter Hall, down the Luskin turnaround, and through the street. The protest stopped at the intersection of Westwood Blvd and Charles E Young St at the corner of the police station, where speakers from Stop LAPD Spying called attention to the LAPD’s actions. Pro-Israel counter-protesters continuously interrupted, attempting to drown out the speakers with Israeli songs and shouting. As protesters tried to diffuse the agitators, around 20 police wearing riot gear marched downwards. As a result, the protest preemptively turned around.
At Bruin Plaza, Stop LAPD Spying resumed their speeches, followed by others who spoke about updates in Palestine. Throughout the duration of the talks, Zionists created disruptions This protest saw a noticeable increase in counter-protesters and tensions, with many demonstrators attributing the rise in harassment to UCLA’s suspension of SJP and lack of protections for student activists.
The protest dissolved peacefully, but officers followed protesters as they dispersed. An hour after the protest, the police arrested and later released one protester in the Luskin parking lot.
Despite facing obstacles ranging from administrative crackdowns to physical confrontations, protesters on February 18 demonstrated that student solidarity for Palestine remains strong. Ultimately, this mobilization and its resounding chants reminded UCLA of the following: “we are all SJP” and the “the more you silence us, the louder we will be.”
