Pro-Palestinian protesters at USC decamp on their own

School officials had said students could face arrest if they didn’t leave.

Students protesting the ongoing war in Gaza left a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California early Sunday after they were surrounded by police and told they could face arrest if they didn’t go.

The move, days before commencement was set to begin, came after the university said campus safety officers, assisted by the Los Angeles Police Department, were clearing the area. “If you are in the center of campus, please leave. People who don’t leave could be arrested,” USC said on the social media platform X at about 4:15 a.m.

Livestream video from student journalists showed the encampment had emptied out as police formed a line to move remaining protesters away and stop people from re-entering.

The encampment had restarted after the LAPD first arrested 93 people on April 24. The atmosphere on campus largely had remained calm since.

In Boston, commencement for Northeastern University began peacefully Sunday at Fenway Park. Some students waved Palestinian flags, but those were dotted among flags from India, the U.S. and other nations. Graduate students went first, with undergraduate commencement in the afternoon. Last month, police arrested about 100 protesters at Northeastern when law enforcement broke up an on-campus encampment.

At the University of Virginia, 25 people were arrested Saturday for trespassing after police clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters who refused to remove tents from campus, and demonstrators at the University of Michigan chanted anti-war messages and waved flags during commencement ceremonies.

At the Art Institute of Chicago campus, police cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment hours after it was set up Saturday and arrested 68 people. Students, who attend classes in downtown buildings surrounding the museum, want the school to divest from companies profiting from the Israel-Hamas war, among other demands.

The institute said the protest grew disruptive and Chicago police were called. Those arrested will be charged with criminal trespass to property.

USC, which is a private institution, has been the subject of student protests over the war as well as the administration’s decision to cancel a commencement speech by valedictorian Asna Tabassum, a first-generation South Asian-American Muslim, who had expressed support for Palestinians.

The university made that decision last month, citing safety concerns after receiving threats. Some Jewish groups had criticized the student’s selection as speaker. Tabassum, who grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs and majored in biomedical engineering, said in an online statement that she had “serious doubts” about whether the decision was made solely for safety reasons.

Administrators later canceled the entire main-stage commencement planned for this Friday, when 65,000 people were expected to gather. Other commencement activities, including graduation ceremonies for individual schools and colleges, are scheduled from Thursday through Sunday. Access to the campus largely has been restricted for people not affiliated with the university since late April.