On August 11, Occidental College suspended two students involved in a pro-Palestine demonstration on April 25 at President Tom Stritikus’ inauguration. The protest, which began peacefully, turned violent after private security assaulted students — pushing them against railings, shoving them down stairs, and attempting to pull off face and head coverings. Following the incident, two suspended students were found responsible for five conduct changes including threatening or endangering behavior, disorderly conduct, interfering with college activities, failure to comply with college officials, and violations of other Occidental policies. A third student was also placed on disciplinary probation until Spring 2027 and found responsible for four out of five charges.
“This year begins with Oxy attempting to silence and isolate our community by removing students who dared to resist, to stand up against genocide as well as our institution’s hypocrisy,” Occidental’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter said in a statement on Instagram. “The administration is using bureaucracy and punishment to send a message: dissent will be met with repression.”
Occidental students have not faced disciplinary measures this severe for political organizing since 1969. In that instance, 42 students in opposition to the Vietnam War were suspended and forced to withdraw from classes after participating in a peaceful sit-in and building occupation that barred access to campus for military recruiters. Only half of those suspended went on to complete their Occidental education.
In 2015, Occidental College students organized protests in solidarity with the nationwide student-led movement for racial justice on college campuses. After several days of direct action, students entered and occupied the A.G. Coons administrative building. The administration’s response stands as a stark contrast to how students are being treated today. At the time, Occidental’s college associate vice president of marketing and communications, Marty Sharkey, publicly stated that protesting students would not be removed from the building.
“We’re not going to shut anything down,” he said in 2015. “They’ve been conscientious and respectful. They’ll be able to stay 24 hours a day.”
A decade later, Occidental has taken a significant turn away from engaging with student activism in a spirit of collaboration.
The conduct hearings for the three respective students occurred on July 31, August 1, and August 2. Palestine Legal supported the SJP chapter with legal advice and representation. According to student organizers who prepared with their peers for the proceedings, the perceived severity of the violations led to the formation of a conduct council unlike the regular hearing structure for resolving lower-level issues. Usually, a conduct council consists of a faculty member, a staff member, and a student from the honor board questioning the accused student and forming recommendations for disciplinary action. However, in this case, Occidental brought in an outside chairperson — Dr. Martha Gibson, Occidental’s associate director of student conduct and restorative practices from 2021 to 2023 — to oversee the hearings.
In addition to shifts in conduct council practice, Occidental also hired the law firm Saul Ewing LLP to conduct an investigation into the April 25 protest and compile evidence against the students. Saul Ewing LLP has taken an openly Zionist stance in the past, expressing on their social media that the firm “Stands With Israel” following October 7, 2023.
Students explained that after the hearings and a deliberation period, the council submitted proposed disciplinary actions to two representatives from the Occidental Office of Student Conduct. A final decision on punishment was made by the dean of students — Vivian Santiago — along with the conduct office representatives. At this stage the dean and the conduct officers could make any choice they saw fit, regardless of the council’s recommendation. Student organizers also stated that, to their knowledge, a student from the honor board was never asked to participate in the council.
One of the accused students, who requested anonymity, recounted feeling exhausted after a hearing that lasted for more than five hours. During questioning, they were asked about their motives and actions on the April 25 action, including why they chose to remain at the protest.
“They wanted to know what I was doing. I was never violent, but the event did become violent due to the actions of private security,” the student said. “After it turned violent I didn’t want to abandon the people I was with.”
The student also remarked that the conduct council asked them to identify others that were present at the protest. The other two students were asked to do the same during their hearings. All three declined.
“The college has repeatedly tried to identify more students through these hearings,” said Occidental student organizer Tobias Lodish. “These conduct hearings aren’t about restoring the campus to what it was. They’re about punishing and banishing as many students as possible.”
Occidental’s disciplinary measures occur against a backdrop of rising animosity toward student protesters nationwide. On July 22, Columbia University announced that it had either expelled or suspended 80 students involved in an occupation of Butler Library in May of this year and in the “Revolt for Rafah” solidarity encampment in May of 2024. In response, the campus coalition group Columbia University Apartheid Divest stated that these disciplinary actions “hugely exceed precedent for teach-ins or non-Palestine-related building occupations.”
Six months ago, University of Washington suspended and banned 21 students from campus following an occupation of the school’s Interdisciplinary Engineering Building. Ohio State University recently expelled a student for expressing pro-Palestine sentiments online, an act which triggered a currently unfolding lawsuit filed by the ACLU.
Meanwhile in California, Occidental College demonstrated a lack of attention to detail when closing out the disciplinary process. When verdicts were delivered by mail, all letters were identical but two referenced incorrect hearing dates — which Occidental SJP felt only underscored the college’s carelessness toward the matter. Upon hearing the outcome from the conduct hearing process, students proclaimed their disdain for the decision.
“I was really shocked,” Lodish remarked in an interview. “It was disappointing to see how Oxy under new president Tom Stritikus capitulated to the silencing dissent and voices that oppose the school’s current financial agenda.”
Occidental’s refusal to extricate its finances from companies bankrolling the genocide also points to a chilling reality about education and Palestine.
“In part due to Occidental’s investments there are no universities left in Gaza,” said Lodish. “There are no colleges to be expelled from.”
At the time this article is being written, almost seven hundred days have passed since Israel commenced its escalated genocide in Palestine on October 7, 2023. This political moment also rests within the context of federal scrutiny of higher education and the withholding of federal funds from institutions that contradict or defy the Trump administration. According to the Center for American Progress, Occidental College was named as one of the institutions at risk of having grant money pulled.
Occidental currently has a contract with the federal government to receive $250,200 in funds per year. The Trump administration threatened to pull the $188,188 remaining in this year’s contract. While no links have been expressly stated between Occidental’s decision to suspend pro-Palestine organizers and the threat of federal funding disappearing, the school’s increased restrictions on student organizers is in line with the nationwide shift toward repression of free speech and pro-Palestine sentiments on campuses while the Trump regime teases the threat of defunding higher education.
Despite receiving an undesired outcome from the conduct processes, Occidental Students are not deterred in their pursuit of divestment and an end to the ongoing genocide.
“If I had one message to new students, it would be to get involved and not let our lives be dictated by whatever Tom Stritikus wants us to do or think.” Lodish said. “We should make those decisions for ourselves.”
To ground themselves, Occidental SJP vowed on the first day of the 2025-2026 school year to remain steadfast in their fight.
“We resist, we remember, and we refuse to be silenced,” their statement read. “We stand with our suspended and probated comrades. We stand with Palestinians students fighting to survive genocide, occupation, and apartheid. Our liberation is collective, and our struggle continues.”
