Baton Rouge: Higher education protest demands DEI protections, sanctuary campus, end to repression
Baton Rouge, LA – On April 17, around 15 Louisiana State University (LSU) students rallied in Free Speech Alley in opposition to the Trump administration’s attacks on education. The students demanded that LSU make the university a sanctuary campus in defense of immigrant students and reverse policies attacking DEI and campus cultural centers.
Students raised signs demanding action, with messages like “Free Mahmoud Khalil!” “Sanctuary campus now,” “Protect our cultural centers” and “Protest is not a crime!” Throughout the rally, students and community members were invited to speak. SDS members spoke alongside Ayah Hamdan of Students for Justice in Palestine, united under a shared commitment to defending student rights and standing in solidarity with Palestinians. The speakers denounced the university's silence in the face of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and called on LSU to divest from any companies profiting from the occupation of Palestine.
The rally was organized by LSU’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in opposition to the compliance of university administration to the non-binding Department of Education’s “Dear Colleague” letter in February, which gave universities the option to either cut DEI programs or lose federal funding. LSU has since committed to slashing funding for oppressed nationality student organizations, such as The Injustice Reform, and has removed all identity-based requirements for financial aid.
This week, the Trump administration ripped away at least 16 Louisiana student visas to further its broader crackdown on campus dissent, part of a national trend aimed at arresting student protesters, silencing opposition, and chilling political expression in academic spaces.
Through the rally, the students reaffirmed their commitment to resistance, vowing to continue if the university fails to meet their demands. With students facing political repression at both the federal and institutional levels, LSU SDS and its allies made clear that the struggle for immigrant rights, cultural spaces and free expression on campus is deeply intertwined with the global movement for justice and liberation, from Baton Rouge to Palestine!