Dozens of students and a professor at Cal State LA walked out of class on Tuesday morning, the first day of the spring semester, protesting the Trump Administration’s policies over his first year back in office, as a part of the wider “Free America” day that saw protests and walkouts at thousands of schools and cities across the U.S..
The walkout and the march around campus included some local members of the surrounding communities.
It is unclear how many total classes, but about 30 students participated in the walkout. A majority of the students who walked out were a part of the social work department at Cal State LA.
At Cal State LA, the protest was organized by second-year Social Work Graduate Student Grace Park through social media and the Cal State LA subreddit. No announcements were made through Canvas or other Cal State LA communications.
“The purpose of the protest is really to show solidarity to the immigrant community, the people who are being impacted by the administration’s actions,” Park said. “Especially with them using ICEto kidnap people, to hurt people, to murder people, as we saw in Minnesota.”
After leaving their classes, protest participants held a march starting on the southern end of campus at the Simpson Tower and continuing for the next two hours with several processions throughout campus along the main walkway.
As the protesters moved throughout campus, they held signs and chanted, “no human is illegal on stolen land” and “Hey hey ho ho those border walls have got to go.”
“Students are gathered here to share more about what’s happening with ICE and really educate others and themselves to make sure that ICE doesn’t come to campus and is not welcome on campus,” Cal State LA Faculty Lecturer in the School of Social Work Marcos Zamora-Sanchez said.
Many students along the walkway showed their support for the protesters as they moved through by raising their fists, clapping, and chiming in during the chants.
“It’s every single person that is part of this community, student community, the Cal State LA community, the surrounding LA community, all need to be protected,” Park said. “Cal State LA is a big presence in this community, and they need to honor that influence and protect everyone that is here.”
Park said that she hopes more students get involved in the protest movement against the Trump administration.
“I know a lot of students don’t necessarily have the privilege to be out in the open to protest, but I hope they know that the people who have the privilege, like myself, to be out here are here to support and to defend them,” Park said. “We’re here to create a safe space for them, and that’s my goal.”
The protests and walkouts across the U.S. were organized by the Women’s March and several other pro-democracy groups, including 50501, which were behind the massive No King’s protests in 2025.
The protest groups that organized the nationwide events made no actionable future demands but said that the “escalating fascist threat” was a reason to “escalate” and become “ungovernable” as Trump and his allies “have already made clear that a second term would bring a deeper wave of misogyny, racism, xenophobia, and violence than the first,” the “Free America” webpage said.
However, Park made specific demands of Cal State LA to take an active stance in support of vulnerable students and faculty against immigration authorities if they came on or near campus.
Zamora-Sanchez said that this is just the beginning of the organizing at Cal State LA, entering Trump’s second year in office.
“I’m happy to see that the students are gathered and doing something about it,” Sanchez-Zamora said.
Cal State LA Spokesperson Erik Hollins said that the school was aware of the protest and understood that “the protest was peaceful.” The protest, according to Hollins, stayed within the rules set out by the Cal State LA and CSU Time Place and Manner policy.
“The university supports the rights of students, faculty, and staff to express their views, within policy,” Hollins said.
