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 in solidarity with the Columbia University encampment. Riot police then made 36 arrests against student protesters — the largest mass arrests in campus history 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 pro-Palestinian social media influencer Guy Christensen; 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.
Background Early pro-Palestinian activism at OSU Pro-Palestinian activism at Ohio State pre-dated the Gaza-war protests by a decade. In 2013 the university publicly opposed an academic boycott of Israeli higher education, drawing campus attention to the issue. In 2014, students with the Committee for Justice in Palestine erected a “mock Apartheid wall” during Israeli Apartheid Week and distributed faux eviction notices to highlight Palestinian displacement.
In 2015 a divestment push triggered a high-profile student-government fight: after the issue was initially excluded from the regular ballot, OSU's Undergraduate Student Government (USG) called a special election; days later, three USG Judicial Panel justices resigned amid impeachment threats due to "concerns of an 'abuse of power and position'". A later release by OSU Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) published screenshots obtained (via an FOIA request) of 2015 emails between then–Senior Vice President for Student Life Javaune Adams-Gaston and OSU Hillel director Joseph Kohane regarding changing USG policy to stifle divestment efforts. In 2016, the #ReclaimOSU sit-in at Bricker Hall demanded transparency and listed divestment among its priorities, with administrators warning of potential discipline. A university-wide divestment referendum narrowly failed in 2017, the same year Ohio’s anti-BDS contracting law (H.B. 476) took effect, restricting state entities—including public universities—from contracting with companies that boycott Israel.
Organizing broadened in 2021 with two Columbus rallies of roughly 500 participants each, involving OSU students and allied groups. In 2022, USG passed an emergency resolution urging divestment from Caterpillar and Hewlett Packard, but the outgoing USG president declined to sign it. That year also saw statewide policy shifts, with Governor DeWine signing Executive Order 2022-06D adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism (which considers some criticisms of Israel to be antisemitism) for state agencies and public colleges, and amendments to Ohio Rev. Code § 9.76 (passed in 2016) explicitly applying anti-boycott contracting rules to higher education.
Global outbreak of Gaza war protests
Protest timeline Since October 7, 2023, protesters have been arrested at the following pro-Palestinian events: Date Incident Confirmed arrests Alleged arrests by pro-Palestinian groups April 23, 2024 Meiling Hall disruption 2 2 April 25, 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment 36 41 June 1, 2024 Ohio Union disruption 0 3 Present Total 38 46
November 23, 2023: Interim President Peter Mohler door blocking protest On November 23, 2023, over 100 protesters organized by the Palestine Liberation Movement and the Party for Socialism and Liberation over divestment from the Gaza war blocked the entrance to the building of Interim President Peter Mohler's office building, successfully preventing people from entering or leaving the building throughout the duration of the protest. According to WOSU, "OSU employees stood in windows looking down on the protests and took photos with their phones of what was going on below". Protesters left the scene shortly after OSUPD and Columbus Division of Police officers arrived and threatened them with arrest.
April 23, 2024: Meiling Hall disruption On April 22, 2024, President Carter made a public announcement saying he will not compromise on "quickly enforcing the law and university policy" when speech "becomes threatening".
On April 23, 2024, in an event organized by Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, around 60 individuals gathered outside Meiling Hall, an administrative building near the Wexner Medical Center, during an OSU Board of Trustees meeting inside the building. They protested, advocating divestment from Israel and fossil fuel divestment.
According to the President of Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, students were warned that there would be "no tolerance for amplified noise" because it was Reading Day. In order to comply, the students chanted without using megaphones after marching to Meiling Hall. OSU police officers told the protesters that even though they did not bring their megaphones, they could be heard from inside the building's lobby. After protesters refused to leave, police arrested two protesters who were OSU students, charging them with criminal trespass and misdemeanor.
April 25, 2024: Gaza Solidarity Encampment
An encampment was organized for April 25, 2024 by multiple pro-Palestinian student organizations including OSU and Toledo Students for Justice in Palestine, OSU Jews for Justice in Palestine, the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Columbus, Justice, Unity, & Social Transformation, Palestine Women's Association, Palestine Liberation Movement, Rising Tide Columbus, and Ohio Youth for Climate Justice.
Protesters initially arrived in the morning. Several were arrested throughout the day for pitching tents on the South Oval as police observed from a distance. OSU's Department of Public Safety officers making arrests were unable to provide the exact reason for asking them to leave the premises. OSU research scientist Dr. Sumaya Hamadmad—unaffiliated with the protests—was arrested by police for sitting on the South Oval after police had broken up a previous encampment and was not given a Miranda warning, even after asking to be read her rights. Several others were reportedly harassed for "reading and sitting in the oval". A Jewish OSU student recording from nearby as an observer was approached by police, who told her: "We don't want to arrest you guys... but our instructions were to arrest everyone in the area. We would advise you guys leave".
During the night of the encampment, President Carter requested the state patrol's assistance, although university police had already been coordinating with state police since around 5:00 p.m. Office of Student Life officials cited university space rules "prohibiting camping, overnight events, and disruption to university business", which was later satirized in a political cartoon.
At 7:32 p.m., authorities issued a warning: "disperse within 15 minutes or face arrest". According to The Lantern, "although warnings came from beyond the crowd, laughter, and smiles abounded within". At around 10 p.m., while Muslim students were performing one of their five daily prayers, state patrol officers dressed in riot gear marched on the encampment and began arrests. In response, protesters formed a human barrier around the tents and praying students by connecting their arms together.
During the arrests, state patrol officers on the Ohio Union switched from observing students through spotting scopes to aiming "long-range firearms" at students. University spokesperson Benjamin Johnson originally claimed there were no armed officers on the Ohio Union rooftop, but after photographs of the snipers were later released, he stated that "the team carries standard equipment, including firearms, that would only be used reactively to protect the safety of all present, including demonstrators". Ohio State University was one of the only two universities in the world, the other being Indiana University, with reports of police snipers being present at the 2024 pro-Palestinian campus protests.
By the end of the evening, at least 36 protesters, including 16 Ohio State students and 20 non-Ohio State students, had been arrested according to authorities. This number is disputed by Ohio's Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio), who reported 41 were arrested throughout the day. CAIR-Ohio also alleged that police had ripped hijabs off Muslim protesters while making arrests. One woman who was struck in the face showed "her bruise to others watching as she walked away from the chaos". Those arrested were charged with criminal trespass. A statement OSU later released read: "Arrests are not an action that we take lightly, and we appreciate the support of all of our law enforcement partners to disperse the encampment for the safety of our university community".
Students for Justice in Palestine claim there were "at least 70 officers" on the scene. After being arrested, they also alleged that hijabs were forcefully removed from students during mugshots, that Muslims were refused a space to pray, and that police refused to provide them with Halal food.
April 29, 2024: Columbus City Council testimonies
On April 29, 2024, pro-Palestinian demonstrators arrived at a Columbus City Council meeting to support demonstrators who were arrested at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, demanding the city drop all charges against them for criminal trespassing. The demonstrators filled the gallery and yelled slogans such as "shame" at courthouse representatives during the speeches of three OSU students who been arrested at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
One speaker accused police of giving her a severe concussion which resulted in an ER visit, and a second speaker accused police of pulling down his pants after they zip tied him. He also claimed that after another protester passed out and hit his head against a wall, police ignored their requests for medical assistance for 15 minutes before seeking paramedics.
March 4, 2025: Shred SB1 rally Ohio Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), enacted in June 2025, sparked significant backlash leading up to being passed. SB 1's restrictions on DEI programs and classroom discussion of "controversial beliefs"—explicitly including foreign policy and immigration—were cited as escalating risks for pro-Palestinian speech and teaching.
For bill details, see June 27, 2025: Senate Bill 1 enacted.