A pro-Palestinian protest made its way through the campus of the University of Southern California earlier this month. Photo by Louis Keene

Tenured University of Southern California economics professor John Strauss last week said he is barred from campus for the rest of the semester and is teaching remotely after a video of his contentious interaction with pro-Palestinian protestors on campus went viral.

“People are ignorant,” Strauss said in the video while passing by the protestors, before stopping to engage with a small group of students. 

In a letter to Strauss obtained by USC’s student newspaper, The Daily Trojan, Provost Andrew Guzman wrote that the measures were “designed to minimize disruption to the educational environment and to ensure a safe environment for both you and students.”

While the students’ comments cannot be made out in the recording, Strauss’s response is clear: “Hamas are murderers. That’s all they are,” he said. “Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are killed.” 

A shortened version of the exchange went viral in a video posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in which only Strauss’s final statement — “Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are killed” — is audible. The clip, which was posted by Palestinian writer and organizer Tara Alami, received over 2 million views. 

Alami’s accompanying post reads: “here is @USC professor John Strauss saying ‘every one of them should be killed, and I hope they all are’ while passing by students who organized a memorial for 10,000+ Palestinian martyrs killed in the past month.” In an interview with USC Annenberg Media, Strauss denied that his comments were directed towards Palestinians in general. “Every one of them referred, of course, to Hamas,” Strauss said. 

Strauss added that he shouted “Israel forever” during the exchange, and that he is “Jewish” and “very pro-Israel.”

The peaceful protest, which took place near the Tommy Trojan statue on USC’s campus, was held in memory of the more than 11,000 Palestinians reportedly killed to date in the Israel-Hamas war that began with the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas.  

Since Strauss was initially barred from campus, a petition calling for his termination has collected over 5,000 signatures on Change.org, and a competing petition calling to reinstate him has collected over 3,000 signatures. 

In a Friday statement, PEN America, an organization that promotes free speech for writers worldwide, said that USC’s actions in response to the viral video were a “shocking overreaction.”

A request sent to an email listed for Strauss bounced back.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Strauss had been placed on administrative leave by USC. The university says Strauss has not been put on leave.

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