This is a list of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in California in 2024 since protests escalated at the Columbia University campus occupation on April 17. Campus protests initially spread the following week to Cal Poly Humboldt, UC Berkeley, and USC. On April 25, encampments and protests spread further to multiple universities; UCLA. UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Stanford, and at Sonoma State the following day. On April 29, encampments were set up at San Francisco State, Sacramento State, UC Riverside, and Occidental College; and at UC San Diego and at the University of San Francisco on April 30.

In May, United Auto Workers local labor union authorized a stand-up strike against the University of California (UC) system alleging unsafe labor practices and violations of civil rights against the workers it represents. The first strike began on May 20 at UC Santa Cruz and expanded to other campuses weekly until a judge issued a restraining order on June 7.

In August, just before the opening of the fall semester, Cal State, UC and other universities instituted broad new policies banning encampments, barricades and overnight demonstrations in response to the events.

Background

University of California

Strike On May 15, members of United Auto Workers Local 4811, the union representing 48,000 graduate students on 10 campuses in the University of California system voted to authorize a strike because the university unfairly change policies and discriminated against students who were exercising their right to free speech and created an unsafe work environment by allowing attacks on protesters. The authorization does not guarantee a strike, but allows the executive board to call a stand up strike at any time. The first of such strikes began on May 20 at UC Santa Cruz, by academic workers over; labor practices, the police response to the protests, and the arrest of union members involved in protests. The University applied to the state labor board for an injunction against the strike, but it was rejected on May 23. On May 28, the second week of rolling strikes began at UC Davis and UCLA. The third week of the strike is scheduled to begin on June 3 at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine.

On June 3, the associate vice president for systemwide labor relations at UC stated: "UC will file a breach of contract action against UAW in state court as a next step." The same day, the Public Employment Relations Board rejected UC's call for an inunction a second time. The request did not meet the high burden of irreparable harm if the strike is allowed to continue.

On June 7, an Orange County Superior Court Judge issued a temporary restraining order to end the strike.

In September, the Council of University of California Faculty Associations filed an unfair labor practices complaint with California's Public Employment Relations Board against UC administrators, alleging "relentless campaign" to retaliate against faculty members for supporting the strike and "teaching about the war in a way that does not align with the university's position."

UC Berkeley

Student protesters put up more than a dozen tents on Sproul Plaza at University of California, Berkeley, stating they would remain until the university divested from companies involved with the war. University officials pledged to remove protesters who put up tents or "disrupted academic activity" by force. On May 14, the encampment at Sproul Plaza was dismantled by protesters after reaching an agreement with chancellor Carol Christ to begin efforts to secure a permanent ceasefire.

On May 15, protesters setup an encampment at an abandoned building at the Anna Head complex on campus. On May 16, at least a dozen protesters were arrested by police from multiple jurisdictions. The occupied building was 130 years old and a member of a local preservation society raised concerns that it might be irreparably damaged.

UC Davis

On May 1, a protest was also held at the University of California, Davis. On May 6, an encampment was set up at UC Davis. On May 29, the 23rd day of the encampment, academic workers with UAW local 4811 went on strike as part of the UC system-wide standup strike.

UC Irvine

A protest march was held at the University of California, Irvine on April 25, followed by an encampment on April 29.

On May 15, over 40 protesters at UC Irvine were arrested after they briefly occupied a lecture hall. Responding agencies included UCI Police, CHP, Orange County Sheriff's Department, and local police from Santa Ana, Fullerton and the city of Orange. The solidarity encampment was dismantled and classes were cancelled the next day.

UCLA

On April 25, The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) chapter of SJP set up a "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" between Powell Library and Royce Hall. Social media posts announcing the encampment directly referenced the arrests at USC, and aerial footage showed about 20 tents and a few hundred protesters. On April 28, clashes occurred between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters as Stand With Us rallied on the campus, in a protest organized by the Israeli American Council. On April 29, counter protestors threw live mice at the encampment. In response to the attack, the Council on American–Islamic Relations called on UCLA administration to investigate it as a hate crime.

In the early morning of May 1, pro-Israel counter protesters from outside the campus attacked the pro-Palestinian protesters' barricade, in an attempt to tear down the encampment. The group included people wielding sticks, poles, and metal fencing. The group also used fireworks and pepper spray, and bear spray during the attack. The LAPD allowed attacks on the encampment by counterprotestors to continue for four hours before intervening. During the attack, the pro-Israel group chanted "Second Nakba," referring to the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes by Israeli forces in 1948. The following day, police dismantled the encampment, arresting 132 protesters and shooting multiple protestors at close range with rubber bullets. On May 28, academic workers at UCLA joined the UC system wide rolling strike.

On June 11, protesters attempted to re-establish encampments at UCLA but were met by more rubber bullets.

UC Merced On May 3, students at University of California, Merced held a letter writing event addressed to the Regents of the University of California to protest their dissent about the Palestine issue.

On May 12, student SJP organizers at UC Merced set up an encampment in anticipation of a meeting by the Regents of the University of California in the university. On May 15, during the 2nd day of the Board of Regents meeting, the students were joined by students from the University of California, Berkeley, alongside other groups from the San Francisco Bay Area, totaling the encampment to over 100 people. On May 16, six members of the Board of Regents met with protestors in the student encampment to discuss divestment from companies with ties to Israel.

UC Riverside On April 29, encampments were set up at the University of California, Riverside,

On May 3, UC Riverside announced that the university will create a task force which will explore the removal of the university's endowment from the UC Investments Office with consideration of companies involved in arms manufacturing and delivery and to present a report to the university's board of trustees by the end of the Winter 2025 quarter. The university also announced that its School of Business will terminate its trips to Israel, and that the university will modify its approval process for all study abroad programs to ensure their compliance with the university's anti-discrimination policies. In turn, protest organizers have agreed to end the occupation of the area around the bell tower by that midnight.

UC San Diego

On May 1, an encampment was established at the University of California, San Diego.

On May 6, more than 100 police officers cleared the encampment at UC San Diego, arresting at least 64 people. The students in the group were immediately suspended. That afternoon a large protest started gathering at Price Center on campus. Another protest demanding the release of the students outside of the San Diego County Jail downtown numbered in the hundreds.

On May 8, thousands of students at UCSD held a walkout to protest the 64 arrested during the clearing of the encampment earlier in the week. More than 100 demonstrators marched to Chancellor Pradeep Khosla's home off campus.

On May 13, "Tritons for Israel" hosted a speech by Mosab Hassan Yousef, a former Israeli undercover agent and son of a Hamas founder at UCSD. A coalition of religious leaders including the imam of the "Islamic Center of San Diego" condemning the speaker for "islamophobia." UCSD said it does not tolerate either islamophobia or anti-semitism, but it also cannot censor or ban groups because of the First Amendment.

On May 15, hundreds marched through UCSD to commemorate the 76th anniversary of Nakba, the displacement and ethnic cleansing that took place day after the state of Israel declared its independence.

On May 16, the San Diego Faculty Association attempted to deliver two petitions to chancellor Pradeep Khosla calling for student amnesty and contradicting the University position that encampment members were violent, that the majority of the encampment was not made up of "outside agitators" and that they did not block the Library walk from non-protest related traffic. The petitioners were prevented from entering the building where his Khosla's office is believed to be.

On June 3, thousands of academic workers at UCSD joined week 3 of the UC-wide stand-up strike. Speakers rallied a crowd in front of Geisel Library followed by marching around campus. United Auto Workers called the strike because the University system "condoned and used violence against its own workers" when the police were used to take down encampments at various campuses including UCSD.

On June 17, lawyers negotiated with and received assurances from the San Diego City Attorney that none of the protesters arrested in May will have charges filed against them. The city reserved the right to file misdemeanor charges up to one year from the incident. Students still faced disciplinary charges from the University, and seven graduating students were prohibited from walking in the commencement ceremony.

By January 2025, UCSD had installed rows of hammocks on the field to discourage future encampments and removed inspirational signage like "This is Where You Make Waves" and "Let Your World Change this World" in favor of more benign language in response to the events of the previous spring.

UC San Francisco An encampment was set up in front of the library at the University of California, San Francisco. On May 18, the university said the encampment was disbanded.

UC Santa Barbara Hundreds of people occupied an administration building at the University of California, Santa Barbara on April 25; tents were set up inside the building but no occupation was planned, according to an organizer, and no police were present. On May 13, a die-in protest occurred in front of the Paseo West library. As of May 14, 105 tents were still standing at the encampment between North Hall and the Davidson Library.

On May 15, the student government president filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights over "severe and persistent anti-Semitic bullying and harassment on campus by her peers, based on her Jewish shared ancestry and ethnicity".

UC Santa Cruz On May 1, two protests were held at the University of California, Santa Cruz. One was in support of labor reform while the other called for the University of California to divest. The two protests merged into a singular protest, which ended with an encampment being set up near a campus bookstore.