California
Amid protests over Gaza, Southern California colleges juggle student safety, graduation plans
As tensions boil at universities across the country amid scattered police confrontations with pro-Palestinian protesters, Southern California colleges are grappling with campus safety issues as graduation ceremonies near in the coming weeks.
Locally, major disruptions have occurred at four campuses — USC, UCLA, UC Irvine and Pomona College — over student-led demands for a permanent ceasefire in the war on Gaza and an end to financial support for Israel. And although security concerns there have been the most intense, other Southern California colleges are now taking measures to ensure their commencement activities — and the weeks leading up to them — are free of similar clashes.
Turmoil has been highest at USC, which found itself in a national spotlight when it canceled the commencement speech by Muslim valedictorian Asna Tabassum of Chino Hills over security concerns triggered by her anti-Israel social media views. A backlash over that decision from students and outside groups prompted the university to cancel all graduation speakers and honorees at its main commencement ceremony.
Then, days later as tensions flared, the LAPD arrested nearly 100 pro-Palestinian protesters at USC. University officials responded by canceling its “main stage” commencement scheduled May 10 over “new safety measures.” The ceremony was expected to draw 65,000 people to Alumni Park.
The school, however, still will host “dozens” of smaller, secure commencement events and receptions from May 8 to 11 where graduates can walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. The secured events will be ticketed, with a “clear bag” policy.
‘Massive overreaction’
Some have condemned USC for what they believe was an escalating series of missteps that provoked much of the hostility on campus.
Mike Ananny, a tenured USC professor who was among 50 faculty members protesting on campus Friday, April 26, blamed the university for “a massive overreaction” to the threats that surfaced over Tabassum’s speech. USC, he said, could have resorted to other options over stripping the valedictorian of her voice.
“I find ‘safety concerns’ hard to believe because the university has hosted many other contentious speakers and has invested security resources, so they chose not to do that,” said Ananny, 48. “I think (students’) voice is very much needed at this time. The big error and failure was inviting the LAPD in riot gear with nonlethal weapons, intimidating students and faculty and, really, the LAPD turned the campus into a zone of military activity.”
Must ‘protect our community’
However, USC President Carol Folt defended the university’s actions.
In a community email sent late Friday, Folt reiterated her responsibility as president to “uphold our Trojan values so that everyone who lives, learns, and works here can have safe places to live, learn, and speak.” She also called Alumni Park, the center of protests and the traditional site of commencement, “unsafe,” claiming that buildings were vandalized, among other safety issues.
“No one wants to have people arrested on their campus. Ever,” Folt said. “But, when long-standing safety policies are flagrantly violated, buildings vandalized, DPS directives repeatedly ignored, threatening language shouted, people assaulted, and access to critical academic buildings blocked, we must act immediately to protect our community.”
USC graduate student Morgan Dommu said the university hasn’t gotten the message from protesters.
“It’s clear whose interests this school has at heart,” Dommu said. “We want to learn, just not at the expense of someone else’s life.”
No ‘right to intimidate’
Meanwhile, organizers from the student-led USC Hillel issued a statement on Instagram last week saying that while students have a right to protest, “they do not have the right to intimidate or threaten Jewish students.”
“No student should feel unwelcome in their own campus home, and our Jewish students are telling us that these actions and this hostile rhetoric induce feelings of fear, terror, and instability,” the statement read. It further called on USC partners to ensure a safe campus.
Calling the commencement cancelation a “heavy blow” and noting that students in the Class of 2024 also were deprived of their high school graduation ceremonies because of the pandemic, the group decided to organize its own Jewish Communal Commencement at the Hillel on May 10.
Other campus protests
Across town at the Westwood campus of UCLA, a “Palestine solidarity” encampment that started Thursday with students outside Royce Hall grew to include more than 1,000 activists. They demanded that the UC system sever its connection to Israeli universities, support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and end “the occupation and genocide in Palestine.” No arrests have been made.
Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA’s strategic communications, said the university is trying to uphold its “history of peaceful protest” as it works to strike a balance between safety and First Amendment rights of free speech.
“It’s also important to note that we are following University of California systemwide policy guidance, which directs us not to request law enforcement involvement preemptively, and only if absolutely necessary to protect the physical safety of our campus community,” Osako said.
UCLA, which does not have valedictorians or a “main” graduation ceremony like at USC, is planning for multiple college ceremonies on Friday, June 14. Officials did not respond to questions about security related to the events.
At UC Irvine, where a large pro-Palestinian demonstration was held on campus Thursday, this year’s graduation will be “business as usual,” spokesperson Tom Vasich said.
“A very different story” from USC, Vasich said.
While security protocols were in place at the campus-wide demonstration, Vasich said the university did not want to escalate the situation, saying they “want to protect (the protesters’) First Amendment rights.”
The school, which also does not have valedictorians, will host various commencement ceremonies from early May through mid-June.
Abri Magdaleno, a graduating English major at UCI, acknowledged students are concerned “that things are going to be impacted, such as commencement, because of how intense this is.”
“UCI has always been business as usual for pretty much everything — except for COVID, of course,” Magdaleno said. “Ultimately, I don’t think commencement will be affected. We’ll have to see what the administration does.”
Other colleges carry on
Officials at Chapman University in Orange said the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict has not affected any plans for graduation, with ceremonies scheduled from May 17 through 19. On Wednesday, the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine held a small protest on campus, but the event did not interrupt campus operations and there were no complaints from public safety personnel, said Chapman spokesperson Molly Thrasher.
Thrasher said the university is in the midst of commencement planning, and will continue to monitor political activities on campus.
At Cal State Northridge, commencement ceremonies will go on as scheduled from May 17 through May 20. The school’s website includes messaging on how it will handle security through the Department of Police Services, including metal detector screenings and a one-bag policy. Spokesperson Perrine Mann declined to comment about whether the potential for protests has affected their graduation plans.
Cal State Los Angeles also has “no plans to alter our traditional commencement” on May 20 and 21 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, said Victor M. Rojas Jr., the college’s chief of staff. Rojas added that all campus events have proper protocols to “ensure a safe and celebratory environment for all participants and attendees.”
Cal State LA students are planning a pro-Palestine protest on May Day, May 1.
“The university values freedom of expression as a cornerstone of a democratic society and believes it is essential to the educational process,” Rojas said.
Cal State Long Beach, the site of protests and vigils in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, has not had any form of physical attacks or violence, according to spokesperson Jeff Cook.
“We’ve remained concerned for any member of our community who feels impacted by perceived antisemitism or Islamophobia, and have in place procedures to both provide support and the substantive review of any concerns, if made,” Cook said in an email.
Cook also said safety during commencement — planned for May 19 through 23 at Angel Stadium — is “always central to our planning.”
At Cal Poly Pomona, spokesperson Cynthia Peters said university leadership, police and graduation organizers have been working together on plans “to ensure the safety of all commencement ceremonies,” which are planned for May 17 through 20 in the school quad.
Peters said there has been no major political disruption on campus, and that Cal Poly’s Dean of Students Office has “been in continuing dialog with the student groups most impacted by conflict in Gaza and Israel to listen and to learn how the university can best support them.”
At Cal State San Bernardino, commencement ceremonies are planned for May 17 and 18 at Toyota Arena in Ontario. Spokesperson Alan Llavore said university and city police will be present to ensure “that commencement can take place with little to no disruptions.”
UC Riverside also will conduct most of its eight graduations — scheduled from late May through mid-June — at Toyota Area. Spokesperson Sandra Martinez said university and city police will focus on “pursuing the highest level of safety for the community and guests.”
Martinez said that UCR has not had any significant protest activity on campus lately related to the Gaza conflict.
Nationwide reckoning
Some believe that unrest on college campuses is merely a reflection of a nationwide reckoning.
At a news conference in Beverly Hills late last week, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey called campus turmoil — from Columbia and Ohio State to the University of Texas and NYU — a “moment where terrorism is disguised as free speech.”
“I believe demonstrations that allow people to build encampments that obstruct the pathway to classes and the opportunity to learn is terrorism,” Garvey said. “I believe there is free speech but I also believe that demonstrations that disrupt the business and natural flow of colleges and universities to teach our young children about the future, and how to be future leaders, are interrupted by terrorists.”
Brian Levin, a professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino and founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, noted the rising number of hate crimes and rhetoric among both anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim groups in major cities since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.
Levin argued that college campuses are meant to foster open, nuanced communication — and students oftentimes have the loudest voice when it comes to causes. He said administrators must be sensitive about the “generational grief” that students, particularly those of color, are experiencing, and do their best to avoid a “militarized response when free speech has a technical violation of rules.”
“Taking passionate moral positions on the issues of the day is not only the right of students, but to peaceably do so is an obligation,” Levin said. “Universities have an obligation at large to engage in this conversation. … They are supposed to be that shining place, (where) free expression is the default.”
Staff writers Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Clara Harter and Hanna Kang contributed to this report.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (FOX26) — One week after ongoing efforts to ensure housing compliance statewide, Governor Gavin Newsom, through the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), has issued final warnings to 15 cities and counties that have failed to meet state housing law requirements.
These jurisdictions are more than 60 days away from securing a certified housing element, a mandatory plan that outlines how communities will meet housing needs for residents of all income levels.
The cities and counties have 30 days to respond to the Notices of Violation.
If they fail to act, HCD could take further steps, including referral to the Attorney General.
“I’m disappointed on behalf of the state and the people of California that after years of effort, we still have communities that aren’t meeting the needs of their residents,” Gov. Newsom said. “There’s no carve-out here. No community gets a pass when it comes to addressing homelessness or creating more housing access. We’ll keep pushing forward by enforcing the law, fighting NIMBY actions, and holding local governments accountable, because every Californian deserves a place to call home.”
Under California law, every community must adopt a housing element demonstrating how it will meet regional housing needs for residents at all income levels, and submit that plan to HCD for review.
With guidance and technical assistance, 92 percent of California communities have already achieved compliance in the 6th cycle.
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The 15 jurisdictions receiving Notices of Violation are now part of a final push to bring all communities into compliance.
“These communities remain more than two years behind schedule and lack a clear path to compliance within 60 days,” HCD said. “If any jurisdictions on track fail to meet the requirements within that period, they will also face potential legal action.”
The 15 cities and counties receiving notices are: Atwater, Avenal, California City, Corcoran, Escalon, Half Moon Bay, Hanford, Kings County, Lemoore, Merced County, Montclair, Oakdale, Patterson, Ridgecrest and Turlock.
HCD has previously taken legal action or entered court-enforced agreements with other cities, including Anaheim, Elk Grove, La Canada Flintridge, Norwalk and Huntington Beach.
Since its creation in 2021, Gov. Newsom’s Housing Accountability Unit (HAU) has taken more than 1,200 enforcement actions, including securing 10 stipulated judgments and settlement agreements.
The unit has also “unlocked” 12,486 housing units, including more than 3,644 affordable units, that may have otherwise been stalled in local planning processes.
Governor Newsom has made addressing the housing and homelessness crises a statewide priority.
His efforts include:
- Streamlining housing construction through legal and regulatory reforms, including CEQA updates, to remove barriers to building new housing.
- Creating shelter and support programs for people living in encampments while holding local governments accountable for providing housing solutions.
- Expanding mental health care and supportive housing, including delivering more than 6,900 residential treatment beds and over 27,500 outpatient treatment slots following voter-approved Proposition 1 in 2024.
- Updating conservatorship laws to assist those unable to care for themselves due to severe mental illness or substance use disorders, creating the new CARE court system.
- Removing dangerous encampments on state and local property while connecting residents to shelter and services, with over 20,600 encampments cleared on state right-of-ways since 2021.
Californians can track how their communities are addressing housing, homelessness, and mental health through HCD’s accountability portal.
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California
U.S. Forest Service issues Southern California rattlesnake warning after two deadly bites
The U.S. Forest Service has issued a warning regarding an increase in rattlesnake sightings in Southern California, especially after two deadly bites were reported in the last few weeks.
In a social media post, the USFS San Bernardino National Forest rangers reminded hikers and outdoor enthusiasts to be wary while exploring nature due to the increased temperatures and arrival of spring weather.
“As temperatures rise, rattlesnakes become more active in the forest,” the USFS’s post said. ” Stay alert, watch where you step and keep pets close.”
Southern California encounters
Since the beginning of the year, hikers have already reported rattlesnake encounters near a Moreno Valley hiking trail in Riverside County, where someone was bitten and required hospitalization.
There have been deadly incidents reported in both Orange County, where a man was bitten while mountain biking in Irvine, and Ventura County, where a 46-year-old woman died from “rattlesnake venom toxicity in an accidental manner.”
“If you encounter a rattlesnake, give it plenty of space and calmly move away,” the social media post said. “Never attempt to touch or disturb wildlife.”
USFS officials credited the increase in encounters to elevated temperatures and abnormally sunny conditions as opposed to the typical winter weather that Southern California sees.
They said that snakes can use their full length to strike, sometimes equating to more than five feet.
Treating rattlesnake bites
Officials advised anyone bitten by a rattlesnake to:
- call 911 and seek immediate medical attention
- keep the bite victim still as movement allows venom to spread through the body more easily
- keep the injured body part motionless and lower than heart level
- keep the victim warm and at rest
- refraining from food and drink
- cover the bite with a clean, dry dressing
They also urged people to avoid using a tourniquet, slashing at the wound with a knife, sucking out the venom, using ice or immersing the wound in water, drinking alcohol as a painkiller or drinking caffeinated beverages.
Officials warned that people should not wait for symptoms of a bite to appear before seeking medical attention. However, they provided a list of different signs that someone may see if they are bitten by a rattler, including:
- puncture marks at the wound
- redness and swelling around the bite
- severe pain at the site of the bite
- nausea and vomiting
- labored breathing
- disturbed vision
- increased sweating and salivation
- numbness or tingling in the face and/or limbs
Spotting and avoiding rattlesnakes
While Southern California is home to several species of rattlesnake, the most common are typically the Western Diamondback and Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Aside from their infamous rattle, rattlesnakes can be identified by their broad and diamond-shaped head. They usually have spotched markings that appaer separated by lighter colored stripes that become smaller and narrower towards the tail, which is tipped with a paper-like noise-producing rattle, USFS officials said.
While they typically hide during the cold winter months, snakes venture out during warm weather. They usually hide in shady spots during the hottest parts of the day and begin hunting either in the early morning or evening. Officials advised that rattlesnakes can swim as well.
In order to avoid rattlesnakes, USFS rangers said that people should not tease or harass any wildlife, keep a distance of at least six feet if a rattler is spotted, stay on trails and watch where stepping or placing your hands when hiking or climbing over obstacles, avoid tall grass and piles of leaves and wear long pants and proper foot gear.
How Many More Records Could Fall This Week?
The most prolific March heat wave in at least 14 years has already smashed monthly records in almost 180 cities from the Southwest to the Plains and East, and will have staying power in the Southwest and Plains this week.
(MAP: Temperatures Right Now)
First, let’s recap the incredible records we’ve seen shattered so far. Then we’ll look and see how long this heat will last.
New US March Heat Record
Before this heat wave, the hottest March temperature on record anywhere in the U.S. had been 108 degrees in Rio Grande City, Texas, on March 30, 1954, and on March 14, 1902.
But at least one location in the U.S. tied or exceeded that March national record four days in a row from March 18 through 21.
On March 20, four reporting stations in the lower deserts of southeast California and southwest Arizona hit 112 degrees, shown in the map below. You can’t make it up that one of these stations was near the town of Winterhaven.
These highs were only one degree shy of tying the April U.S. record high set at Death Valley, California, according to weather historian Christopher Burt. And that happened in late April — April 22, 2012 and April 24, 1946.
March Statewide Records
It also appears that the hottest March temperatures on record in 14 states were either tied or broken.
We touched on the California and Arizona records above (112 degrees) as national records, but among some other state records that appear to have been tied or set include:
- Nevada: 106 degrees on March 21
- Colorado: 96 degrees on March 21
- Nebraska: 99 degrees on March 21
- Missouri: 97 degrees on March 21
- Minnesota: 88 degrees on March 21
The other states are shown on the map below.
For bigger state or national records like these, an ad hoc committee of meteorologists and climatologists is usually convened to examine the data and the reporting station before it becomes a new, official record.
City March Records
Almost 180 locations with data since the 1960s or earlier have tied or set new March records from California to Pennsylvania to South Carolina during this heat wave.
Some of those records are shown in the map below from NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center.
Phoenix only had one March day of triple digit heat on record prior to this heat wave. They hit the 100s seven days in a row from March 18-24, topping out at 105 degrees on March 20 and 21. Incredibly, that’s equal to their April monthly record, which was set almost a month later in the calendar on three dates ranging from April 20-29 in three past years.
Other major cities that tied or set new March records included San Francisco’s first March 90-degree high downtown, Las Vegas (97 degrees), Salt Lake City (84 degrees), Boise (83 degrees) and Denver (85 or 86 degrees for three straight days).
It wasn’t just a western heat wave.
March records were tied or set in Lubbock, Texas (98 degrees), Kansas City (93 degrees), Des Moines, Iowa (91 degrees), Nashville, Tennessee (89 degrees), Louisville, Kentucky (89 degrees), Indianapolis, Indiana (88 degrees), Columbus, Ohio (86 degrees), Pittsburgh (84 degrees), and Charleston, South Carolina (90 degrees).
Perhaps the most extraordinary record heat east of the Rockies happened in Nebraska on March 21.
Both Lincoln and Omaha not only demolished their March record, after reaching 97 degrees in Lincoln and 96 in Omaha, but it also tied their April record.
Many of these almost 180 cities tied or topped their previous March records multiple days in a row. Flagstaff, Arizona, reached or topped their previous March record of 73 degrees a staggering eight days in a row from St. Patrick’s Day through Tuesday. Las Vegas did that seven days in a row through Tuesday.
Several of these cities reached the 80s, 90s, or 100s for the first time in their recorded history.
Last weekend, parts of the Plains, were as much as 45 degrees warmer than average.
This is likely the most significant, long-lived March heat wave the nation has experienced since the March 2012 heat wave rewrote the record books in the central U.S. and Canada.
A sign warns hikers of trail closures due to extreme heat at Camelback Mountain on Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Phoenix.
(AP Photo/Rebecca Noble)
There’s Still More Ahead In This Heat Wave
This heat wave isn’t over.
Another pulse of heat is surging into parts of the Plains and South this week, while continuing to bake the Southwest.
We’re expecting many dozen more daily record highs from California possibly as far east as parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.
Incredibly, some new March records could be set in a few areas, though last week’s heat set a much higher bar.
Some cities that could once again flirt with March record highs include Cheyenne, Denver and Amarillo. On Thursday, St. Louis could approach its March record (92 degrees) on Opening Day, no less, a record set 97 years ago.
(MORE: Heat Safety And Preparation)
How hot are we talking about?
Triple-digit highs: Parts of the Desert Southwest, including Phoenix, and the lower Colorado River Valley could again see triple digit heat through much of this week. A few of the hottest spots in western Texas, possibly southwest Oklahoma, could reach 100 degrees around Thursday.
90s: This searing heat will spread out from the Desert Southwest into the Plains from Nebraska to Texas to parts of the mid-Mississippi Valley through Thursday.
(MAPS: 10-Day US Forecast Highs, Lows)
Relief?
Yes, there is finally relief in sight.
A late week cold front should remove the heat from the Plains and Rockies, however, above-average warmth will rebuild back into the Plains, South and Midwest this weekend.
The Southwest will have to be more patient. While daily record warmth is possible through the weekend, a pattern of somewhat cooler temperatures, even some rain and showers are possible in the West, including California and Arizona, next week.
Long-Range Temperature Outlook (NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center)
Why So Hot So Soon?
The reason for this heat wave in particular has to do with the ridge of high pressure, also known as a heat dome, that was parked over the West.
This heat dome is record-breaking for March, comparable in strength to ones we see in June. You can see the general position of the high pressure on the satellite loop below in the darker shading.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
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