2024 Ohio State University pro-Palestinian campus protests

A series of ongoing protests at Ohio State University by pro-Palestinian demonstrators have occurred on-campus in response to the Israel-Palestine conflict beginning on October 7, 2023. A solidarity encampment was constructed on OSU's South Oval on April 25, 2024, during which there were 36 arrests. About 40 protesters have been arrested across multiple non-violent protests, making for the largest en masse arrest on campus since the 1969–1970 Vietnam War protests.

The protester demands of OSU include "financial divestment, academic boycott, financial disclosure, acknowledging the genocide, and ending targeted policing".

Pro-Palestine groups have been critical of the university's response to the protests, suspension of pro-Palestinian student organizations, and suppression of the Undergraduate Student Government's attempts at passing legislation for financial divestment from Israel after receiving pressure from officials in Zionist organization Hillel International.

The university has insisted their actions are politically neutral, with President Walter E. Carter Jr. stating the "university's long-standing space rules are content neutral and are enforced uniformly".

April 23: Meiling Hall disruption
On April 23, 2024, in an event organized by Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, around 60 individuals gathered outside Meiling Hall, an administrative building near the Wexner Medical Center, to protest the Israel-Palestine conflict, and to advocate fossil fuel divestment during an OSU Board of Trustees meeting inside the building.

According to the President of Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, students were warned that there would be 'no tolerance for amplified noise' because it was Reading Day. In order to comply, the students chanted without using their megaphones after marching to Meiling Hall. OSU police officers told the protesters that even though they did not bring their megaphones, they could be heard from inside the building's lobby. After refusing to leave, police arrested two protesters who were OSU students, charging them with criminal trespassing and misdemeanor.

In an op-ed by former OSU Professor Keith Kilty, Kilty criticized the administration's suppression of using sound systems, stating, "During my 29 years as a professor at OSU, I helped to organize many rallies and demonstrations, where we used sound systems so that we could be heard, and those were at all times of the day. Yet now, under your leadership, we are to be silenced and denied our right to speak?"

April 25: Gaza Solidarity Encampment
An encampment was organized for April 25, 2024, by multiple pro-Palestine student organizations including OSU and Toledo Students for Justice in Palestine, OSU Jews for Justice in Palestine, the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Columbus, Justice, Unity, & Social Transformation, Rising Tide Columbus, and Ohio Youth for Climate Justice.

Protesters initially arrived in the morning. Several were arrested throughout the day for pitching tents on the South Oval, as police observed from a distance. During the night of the encampment, President Walter E. Carter Jr. requested the state patrol's assistance, although university police had already been coordinating with state police since around 5:00 p.m. Officials cited "rules prohibiting camping, overnight events, and disruption to university business", which was later satirized in a political cartoon.

At 7:32 p.m., authorities issued a warning: "disperse within 15 minutes or face arrest." According to The Lantern, "although warnings came from beyond the crowd, laughter, and smiles abounded within". At around 10 p.m., while Muslim students were praying, riot police marched on the encampment and began arrests. In response, protesters formed a human barrier around the tents by connecting their arms together.

During the arrests, Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers on the Ohio Union switched from observing students through binoculars to aiming long-range firearms at students as part of their protocol. University spokesperson Benjamin Johnson originally stated "there are no snipers" on the Ohio Union rooftop, but after photographs of the snipers were later released, stated that "the team carries standard equipment, including firearms, that would only be used reactively to protect the safety of all present, including demonstrators".

By the end of the evening, at least 36 protesters, including 16 Ohio State students and 20 non-Ohio State students, had been arrested. This number is disputed by the Council on American–Islamic Relations, who reported 41 were arrested during this event. One woman who was struck in the face showed "her bruise to others watching as she walked away from the chaos". Those arrested were charged with criminal trespassing. A statement OSU later released read: "Arrests are not an action that we take lightly, and we appreciate the support of all of our law enforcement partners to disperse the encampment for the safety of our university community."

According to an Instagram post by Students for Justice in Palestine, there were "at least 70 officers" on the scene. They claimed that after being arrested, hijabs were forcefully removed from students during mugshots, that Muslim students were refused a space to pray, and that police refused to provide Halal food.

April 29: Columbus City Council testimonies
On April 29, 2024, pro-Palestine demonstrators arrived at a Columbus City Council meeting to support demonstrators who were arrested at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, demanding the city drop all charges against them for criminal trespassing. The demonstrators filled the gallery and yelled slogans such as "shame" at courthouse representatives during the speeches of three OSU students who had been arrested at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

December 13: Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists suspension
On December 13, 2023, the Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists (CORS), a registered pro-Palestinian OSU student organization, was suspended from OSU, during which "the club [was] prohibited from participating in or holding activities". According to OSU spokesperson Dave Isaacs, this was due to several violations, including "disregarding university directives, being non-responsive to meeting requests from the organization's advisors and university leaders, and dissemination of materials that include a logo associated with a designated terrorist organization". Their poster, titled "Intifada, Revolution, and the Path to a Free Palestine", included a drawing of an armed pro-Palestinian militant, which caused the university to claim CORS posed a "significant risk of substantial harm".

On February 2, 2024, CORS was reinstated as a student organization under the condition they attend extra meetings with administration, which CORS claims was largely due to "the hundreds of individuals and organizations who supported us". CORS called the statements made by The Lantern defamatory, demanding that the OSU administration retract and apologize for their statements. In a public statement, they disputed the allegations laid against them by OSU.

March 25: Undergraduate Student Government divestment scandal
On March 25, 2024, OSU's Undergraduate Student Government (USG) proposed an initiative titled "Urging OSU to Divest from Companies Profiting from Human Rights Violations". The initiative received 1247 signatures (with 415 digital signatures from a digital circulator and 832 signatures from other sources), above the 1,000-signature minimum needed to appear on the presidency ballot. USG's Judicial Panel nullified this initiative.

According to Students for Justice in Palestine President Jineen Musa, the signatures were "deemed invalid due to the dissemination of the petition on Instagram". Musa claimed other candidates who had "used the exact same method to a greater extent than what we did" were not penalized, implying their initiative was targeted due to its pro-Palestine content.

OSU Students for Justice in Palestine leaked screenshots of emails between Senior Vice President for Student Life Javaune Adams-Gaston and Hillel International member Joseph Kohane. In the email, Kohane implores USG's Judicial Panel to veto the initiative, saying, "we urge that USG and especially the Judicial Panel hold itself accountable and make the needed changes, including reversing the signature threshold." Threats of impeachment ensued against the USG justices "due to concerns of an 'abuse of power and position'", which caused three justices to resign shortly after the incident.

November 9: Hillel flag vandalism
On November 9, 2023, two protesters unaffiliated with OSU, acting independently of any known activism organizations, vandalized Israeli flags in OSU Hillel International's lobby, shouting slogans including "fuck you", "you support genocide", and "free Palestine". The two protesters were charged with misdemeanor, ethnic intimidation, theft, criminal trespass and criminal mischief.

March 27: Hillel infosession disruption
On March 27, 2024, according to an Instagram post by OSU Jews for Justice in Palestine (JJP), JJP and an unnamed allied organization disrupted an infosession on OSU campus for Hillel International's annual "Fact Finder Israel Trip", which is supported by Ohio State University. According to JJP, Hillel has accused pro-Palestine protesters of antisemitism. In their statement, JJP claimed Hillel is an "ethnonationalistic" organization.

During the disruption, three black bloc individuals displayed a banner outside Hillel, reading, "OSU Hillel invites you to visit a genocidal state". The Hillel event was canceled due to the disruption. Hillel Rabbi Aaron initiated dialogue with the counter-protesters for about an hour, after which Hillel CEO Naomi Lamb publicly expressed that the actions of counter-protesters were threatening toward Hillel students and urged OSU to "condemn the protest as an act of hate against the Jewish community".

April 20: Ohio State Student Union protest clash
On April 20, 2024, OSU Jews for Justice in Palestine posted a video after a protest in the Ohio Union, showing a counter-protester wearing a kippah confronting pro-Palestine protesters, repeatedly yelling "show your face" at a masked protester, and pushing him.

Antisemitic
On April 20, Ohio State University condemned hate speech comments made at student protests describing them as "deplorable".

On October 8, 2023, according to the Ohio Capital Journal, one unnamed student in the OSU Oval purchasing a bracelet which read "I stand with Israel" was spat on. A month later, there was a violent anti-semitic hate crime perpetrated by two males against Jewish students on North High Street next to OSU campus. In both cases, the individuals responsible were not identified and there is no indication they are affiliated with any pro-Palestine organization. President Walter E. Carter Jr. has referred to pro-Palestine demonstrations as consisting of "threats of violence" and "hate speech".

Anti-Palestinian
Multiple OSU Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) members have stated that they have been "targets of social media death threats, in-class harassment, public profiling and, in one female student’s case, a stalking incident". One member received a death threat through Instagram direct messages, saying: "Death to you and your family. I hope the IDF find [sic] you and you die slowly. It's good to know you go to tosu terrorist, the dean will know your [sic] beheading babies bitch". A second member said she was "stalked by a stranger who followed her several times from a chemistry class" and that she "filed a formal complaint and reached out to supervisors at least 10 times"; but that nobody listened, and subsequently stopped going to the class. A third member reported "someone using a fake name and address sent a flyer of an Israeli hostage to her private address". A public database called the "Canary Mission" dedicated to doxxing pro-Palestinian protesters has targeted and blacklisted multiple students in OSU SJP.

Authority responses
Ohio State University officials, including university spokesperson Benjamin Johnson, have referenced Ohio Revised Code Section 9.76, a state law passed in 2016 and amended in 2022, which prohibits state agencies, including public universities, from boycotting Israel or divesting from companies that have policies against Israel. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine expressed support for this policy in an interview after the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.