Occidental College’s usually mellow Academic Quad turned into a tent city on Friday, as students launched a pro-Palestine encampment they are calling the "Rafah to Jenin Liberated Zone." The group is demanding that the Board of Trustees divest from any financial ties to Israel, as well as from weapons manufacturers and private prisons. Organizers say they have submitted a new divestment proposal and gathered hundreds of signatures from students and community members to back it. College officials reported that about 50 people were present, including several nonstudents, and said campus safety officers and staff engaged the demonstrators while student conduct processes were set in motion. The action recalls a similar encampment on campus two years ago that pushed trustees to formally consider a divestment plan.
Students frame it as a people’s university
Organizers are billing the encampment as a "people’s university," complete with workshops, shared meals, and evening programming aimed at building support both on campus and in the surrounding neighborhood. According to MyNewsLA, students said they had gathered more than 600 signatures and urged community members to join them overnight in tents or contribute food and supplies for those staying on the quad.
Board history and prior encampment
Occidental’s Board of Trustees already has a formal process in place to review divestment proposals from campus stakeholders and previously weighed a student-driven plan in 2024. The board ultimately declined to divest from the targeted holdings, while committing to broaden campus dialogue about the issue. A college statement on the Board’s website details how a nine-day encampment in 2024 ended after administrators reached an agreement with protesters that allowed trustees to review a formal proposal. The board’s published materials outline the investment committee’s procedures and the criteria used to evaluate divestment requests, and Occidental College notes that both community input and fiduciary impact are weighed before any decision is made.
College response and conduct processes
In a statement provided to City News Service and reported by MyNewsLA, the college said that roughly 50 people, including eight nonstudents, had set up tents and "semi-permanent structures" on the quad. Campus safety officers and staff held what the college described as peaceful conversations to reinforce Occidental’s time, place and manner rules for demonstrations. The statement added that the school had increased on-campus security, opened conduct cases connected to the encampment and launched a 45-day community comment period linked to the newly submitted divestment proposal.
What comes next
With the comment window now open and the board’s investment procedures activated, attention on campus will turn to whether the investment committee decides to advance the proposal and how the parallel conduct proceedings play out. Occidental’s guidance on divestment stresses trustees’ fiduciary responsibilities and the central role of the investment committee in reviewing stakeholder demands, so the coming weeks will test whether renewed pressure from tents on the lawn can shift the board’s calculation. Occidental College describes how written comments and broader community feedback are folded into that review process.
Why it matters locally
Encampments and divestment campaigns have become a recurring flashpoint on California campuses since 2024, drawing national attention and setting off legal fights and disciplinary battles that extend well beyond college boundaries. As the Los Angeles Times reported after Occidental’s 2024 protests, trustees and administrators often find themselves squeezed between vocal student activists and alumni or donors with very different expectations. That tug-of-war can make any trustee vote on divestment particularly high stakes for smaller liberal arts schools like Occidental, where even a patch of lawn in Eagle Rock can suddenly turn into a very public stage.
