Hundreds march at UC Santa Cruz in Gaza protest, set up Quarry Plaza encampment

Hundreds of students and other supporters marched on UC Santa Cruz’s campus Wednesday and began building encampments at Quarry Plaza as part of protests against Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

A May Day march and rally organized by UCSC students and faculty culminated in the construction of a throng of tents at the center of campus, a mini-city that Students for Justice in Palestine called their “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” 

UCSC joins dozens of campuses across the country that have been the site of marches and encampments by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The clashes have turned violent at some schools. Administrators at UCLA canceled classes Wednesday after a heated confrontation between campers and counter-protesters. On Tuesday, police arrested 25 students at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, ending a weeklong occupation of administrative offices. 

The scene at UCSC remained largely peaceful Wednesday afternoon. University spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason said school officials were watching the situation but had not canceled classes or other scheduled activities. He did not comment on whether administrators planned to involve police. 

“The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority,” Hernandez-Jason wrote in an email. “We are actively monitoring this situation to support a campus environment that supports our community’s right to free expression while also allowing our teaching and research mission to continue.” 

The march began outside the Science and Engineering Library at 11 a.m., where students, faculty, staff and locals congregated in the stretch of red brick plaza situated to the east of the library. Hundreds of students, faculty and locals held signs, and many donned keffiyehs, a traditional symbol of Palestinian resistance. 

The crowd then marched east down McLaughlin Drive, occupying one full lane of traffic and extending about 600 feet. Organizers in yellow vests guided protesters and prevented the march from spilling out and blocking the other lane of traffic. Marchers chanted “Free Palestine!” and “Santa Cruz to Gaza, mobilize the intifada,” among other pro-worker and pro-Palestine slogans. 

At Quarry Plaza, directly in front of the Bay Tree Bookstore, organizers set up 20 tents and cordoned them off with cones and rope. Students then set about bringing food, sleeping bags, bedding and camping chairs within. Chalk graffiti with pro-Palestinian messaging adorned the perimeter of the encampment. 

Organizers of the rally included Students for Justice in Palestine, a student group; the graduate student union, which voted to be involved in a one-day strike; and Faculty for Justice in Palestine, whose members called for a one-day walkout in a news release. 

Students for Justice in Palestine issued its own media release about the tent city. “This encampment, located at the heart of their campus, is part of a global movement to keep the spotlight on Israel’s unrelenting assault on Gaza where nearly 35,000 people have been slaughtered and millions internally displaced,” the brief read. The students said the protest called attention to what they say are the university’s connections to defense industries that profit off of Israel’s military apparatus that has been involved in killing and oppressing Palestinians.

An undergraduate spokesperson for Students for Justice in Palestine named Layn, who preferred to keep their last name anonymous for safety, said that “close to 50 or 60 students” would be camping out in the quarry. “That number might grow with students visiting — a lot of people just heard about this today, are interested and want to join,” Layn added.

Layn explained that students who were camping out overnight would not be working or attending classes in protest of the “genocide in Gaza.”

“So it’s a big commitment,” they noted.

Hillary Ojeda contributed to this report. This story will be updated.

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