Gaza war protests at Ohio State University

Gaza war protests at Ohio State University
Gaza war protests at Ohio State University
Part of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses and Gaza war protests in the United States
	Clockwise from top: Officers arresting pro-Palestinian protester at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment; Banner drop at Arps Garage, September 12, 2024; Photo of protesters outside the Ohio Union, October 7, 2024; Video at same protest;
Date	October 7, 2023 – Present
Location	Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States; 40°00′07″N 83°00′54″W / 40.002°N 83.015°W
Methods	Sit-in; Picketing; Lock-on; Civil disobedience; Marching; Counter-protest; Banner drop;
Parties
Ohio Free Palestine Coalition: Students for Justice in Palestine; Justice, Unity, & Social Transformation; Party for Socialism and Liberation; Rising Tide Columbus; Jews for Justice in Palestine; Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists; Ohio Youth for Climate Justice; Palestine Liberation Movement; Palestine Women's Association; Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine;	University authorities: OSU administration; OSU Office of Student Life; OSU Department of Public Safety; Law enforcement: OSU campus police (OSUPD); Columbus Division of Police (CPD); Franklin County Sheriff's Office; Ohio State Highway Patrol; Pro-Israel groups: Hillel International; Chabad;
Lead figures
	No centralized leadership; Ted Carter; Mike DeWine;
Casualties and losses
38-46 arrests; 1 court summons issued; 1 student expelled;	None
	12 OSU student visas were revoked under Trump, at least one of which was associated with pro-Palestinian activism

A series of protests at Ohio State University by pro-Palestinian demonstrators are ongoing and began on-campus following the outbreak of the Gaza war and genocide. A solidarity encampment was constructed on OSU's South Oval on April 25, 2024 during which there were at least 36 arrests, making for the largest en masse arrests 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-Palestinian groups have been critical of the university's responses to the protests, which have included allowing state troopers to aim sniper rifles at students during the dispersal of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, suspending a pro-Palestinian student organization, and blocking the Undergraduate Student Government's attempts at passing legislation for financial divestment from Israel after receiving pressure from officials in Zionist organization Hillel International.

Following protests, the OSU administration coordinated multi-agency police operations, implemented a campus-wide chalking ban, and expelled a pro-Palestinian social media influencer; state-level officials floated invoking a 1953 anti-KKK statute against pro-Palestinian protesters who wore face coverings, suggested terminating faculty members who encourage or engage in "violence on campus", and passed the "CAMPUS" Act to formalize free speech restrictions; and officials in the Trump administration revoked the student visa of at least one pro-Palestinian protester at OSU and threatened to withdraw funding from OSU if they did not sufficiently "combat antisemitism" on campus. These actions have been met with multiple lawsuits over alleged violations of First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The university has insisted their actions are politically neutral, with OSU President Ted Carter stating the "university's long-standing space rules are content neutral and are enforced uniformly". Critics argue the university engages in selective enforcement of university space rules, enforcing policies disproportionately against pro-Palestinian groups and not similarly against other groups on campus.