There is a clear difference of opinion between the University of San Francisco and the last remaining Gaza encampment protesters there, as the protesters agreed to move out on Monday, but the university started hauling their tents anyway.

If you’re interested in what’s going on with the Gaza protest encampment at the University of San Francisco, and you search on “USF Gaza protest,” you’re likely to see results showing a different USF Gaza protest some 3,000 miles away at the Tampa campus of the University South Florida, which also goes by the initialism “USF.” That Florida protest brought violent skirmishes and police using tear gas, whereas the University of San Francisco encampment has been far more peaceful over the course of the past couple weeks.

(There was, simultaneously, a separate encampment at San Francisco State University, which also seemed to resolve peacefully two weeks ago.)

But that uneasy peace seems to have broken Monday. While the remaining protesters with tents pitched at the university’s Welch Field say that told university officials that they agreed to leave Monday, the university disputes this. The Chronicle reports that school employees started clearing the tents Monday morning, before the protesters could pack things up themselves.

“We had just woken up,” student organizer Susu Steyteyieh told the Chronicle. “The camp was still full. … They didn’t give us a warning.”

For their part, the university claims that the some 50 remaining tents were “abandoned property,” and the people staying in them had left. (USF is now officially on summer break.) The university said the tents would be stored for the students to pick up, or they would be donated if not picked up.

The USF protest was not as large or long-running as the UC Berkeley Gaza encampment, but had grown to about 100 tents earlier this month. School officials offered the protesters an amnesty deal if they left by 3 pm last Tuesday, prior to last Saturday’s graduation ceremony, but many protesters defied that deadline and remained camped at Welch Field.  

Yet this whole thing may be moving toward a peaceful resolution, perhaps as early as today. University spokesperson Kellie Samson told the Chronicle that the protesters “agreed to pick up their remaining belongings by Tuesday morning."

Update: Samson reached out to SFist to clarify that "The protesters did not notify university officials that they were moving out. USF staff began packing unoccupied tents and abandoned property [on Monday] with the intention of storing all items for pickup or donation. When staff was approached by a few students who arrived at the field, they informed staff then that they intended to remove the encampment and vacate the field that day. They had not informed staff of this until that moment."

Related: Berkeley Protesters Have Broken Into and Occupied Empty Building In Renewed Pro-Palestine Protest [SFist]

Image: @monishabajaj via Twitter

*This post has been updated with comments from university spokesperson Kellie Samson.

The red-hot USF Dons men’s basketball team is playing at the Chase Center tonight in a monster game that will be on national TV (well, ESPN2), but they’re up against Gonzaga, who have beaten them 28 times in a row.

If you’re one of those people who doesn’t start paying attention to college basketball until March (which is tomorrow) here is your local update: Spokane, Washington’s Gonzaga is very good this year, as they are every year. But their upstart Bay Area rival, Moraga’s St. Mary’s Gaels, are even better, having won their last 15 (!) games in a row, and currently ranked No. 17 in the country. And also in the mix are your University of San Francisco Dons, who are just a game behind those West Coast Conference (WCC) leaders, and all three teams are shoo-ins to make the March Madness NCAA Basketball Tournament.

They’re wrapping up the regular season this weekend before conference tournaments begin, and the biggest game by far is the Dons playing the Gonzaga Bulldogs Thursday night, a game so significant they’re playing it at the Chase Center. The 8pm PT game will be broadcast nationally, though ESPN2, as the main ESPN has some hockey game on instead.

Okay, so who are this year’s USF Dons? There aren't many players left from the 2022 team that made that March Madness tournament. But their big star is towering six-foot, eight-inch forward Jonathan Mogbo, who leads the team in scoring (14.9 points per game) and has the third-highest shooting percentage in NCAA men’s basketball this season. There are also some fun role players in the Chinese-born forward Junjie "Barry" Wang, San Ramon product Ryan Beasley at point guard, and the first Mongolian player ever to win a Division 1 scholarship, the nearly seven-foot Enkhiin-Od “Mike” Sharavjamts.

Parenthetically, Sharavjamts’s father was the first Asian player ever to make the Harlem Globetrotters roster.

This will not be an easy win, as the Gonzaga Bulldogs are the No. 23 team in the country, and already beat the Dons earlier this year 77-72 in Spokane. Moreover, Gonzaga has beaten USF 28 consecutive times in a row, a streak that dates back to 2012.

The USF Dons come into the game 22-7, and 11-3 in the WCC (their only conference losses have been to St. Mary’s and Gonzaga). After tonight’s game, they wrap up the regular season Saturday at Santa Clara. The WCC Tournament begins this Thursday, March 7, Selection Sunday for the March Madness tournament is Sunday March 17, and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament itself begins Tuesday, March 19 with the “First Four” games.

Related: USF Dons Basketball Team Makes March Madness for the First Time Since 1998, Plays Thursday Night [SFist]

Image: SPOKANE, WASHINGTON - JANUARY 25: Malik Thomas #1 of the San Francisco Dons drives against Nolan Hickman #11 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the second half at McCarthey Athletic Center on January 25, 2024 in Spokane, Washington. Gonzaga defeats San Francisco 77-72. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images)

Photo courtesy of USF

The University of San Francisco Dons have made the Men’s NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years, and while the Sweet 16 will be played at the Chase Center, the Dons are bracketed to a different region.

The University of San Francisco Dons men’s basketball team has a proud and distinguished history — most of which happened nearly 50 years ago. The team won the NCAA National Championship in 1955 and 1956, with Hall of Famers Bill Russell and K.C. Jones on the roster. They remained good through the 1970s, then imploded in myriad horrible scandals in the '80s, and haven’t really been notable since.

Until this past weekend's March Madness Selection Sunday. As the Chronicle reports, the USF Dons are in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for the first time since 1998. Print your bracket here.

And hey, part of the March Madness tournament is being played at the Chase Center! (The "Sweet 16" round next weekend, March 24-26.) But because of the geographical whaaat? that is the NCAA tourney, the Dons are in the East bracket, and the Chase Center is hosting Sweet 16 games from the West bracket.

The USF Dons (24-9) play their first tournament game on Thursday at 6:40 p.m. PT Thursday night, St. Patrick’s Day, against the Murray State Racers (30-2, and Ja Morant’s alma mater BTW). The Dons are 1.5-point underdogs, so this is certainly a winnable game for them. Should they win, they would face the winner of the Kentucky-St. Peter’s game at some point on Saturday. And while Kentucky (26-7) is a traditional powerhouse, they are not dominant this year. Which means the Dons are a legitimate Cinderella prospect in the 2022 tournament.

And check it out, they have a Ukrainian player! He’s not really one of their stars — those distinctions got to all-West Coast Conference guards Jamaree Bouyea and Khalil Shabazz. But as the Chron notes, “In addition to shooting 35.5% from 3-point range this season, [the Dons] have held opponents to just 29.5% beyond the arc. USF’s 11-5 record away from the Sobrato Center, including 7-2 in true road games, makes it one of the nation’s best road teams.”

And to the obvious question of the week: What the fuck is a Don? “Until November 1931, our athletic programs were referred to as the ‘Grey Fog,’” the school explains. “The new name spawned a more dignified mascot. In his signature mask and cape, Don Francisco – whose name is a subtle nod to Don Francisco de Haro, the city’s first mayor  – represents a highly stylized version of the old-school Spanish look.”

University of San Francisco (10) vs. Murray St. (7) is Thursday, March 17, at 6:40 p.m. PT on CBS.

Related: Warriors Arena To Host March Madness Games (In 2022) [SFist]

Image: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 05: Josh Kunen #10, Khalil Shabazz #0, Gabe Stefanini #15 and Patrick Tape #11 of the San Francisco Dons stand on the court as they take on the Brigham Young Cougars during the West Coast Conference basketball tournament quarterfinals at the Orleans Arena on March 05, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Dons defeated the Cougars 75-63. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

After several years of turmoil at the financially strapped San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), the University of San Francisco (USF) announced Tuesday that it has plans to acquire and merge with SFAI, bringing the art institute's degree programs under the USF umbrella.

Things looked grim for SFAI at the start of the pandemic, and after declining enrollment and years of dwindling financial resources, the school announced plans to close permanently and lay off its staff. The complete closure was averted, but with 79 undergraduate and graduates students as of mid-2020, a student body that dwindled over several more months to just 27 by early 2021, the once prestigious institution had certainly seen better days. (The school had reportedly had an enrollment of over 600 students as of 2013.) Add to that some drama over an aborted proposal to sell the school's prized Diego Rivera mural — which led to the resignations of the school's board chair and two other board members — and SFAI has had a rocky couple of years.

Now, USF has stepped in and says it has entered "a period of due diligence" in preparation for a full acquisition of SFAI and its assets — which include the mural, art and film collections, and the school's historic campus on Chestnut Street. This deal would likely also include the assumption of SFAI's debts, which are not inconsiderable — the UC Board of Regents stepped in to buy SFAI's debt in July 2020, to the tune of $19.7 million, effectively becoming the school's landlord for the last year and a half.

The new school within a school would, it seems, be called the San Francisco Art Institute at USF, or SFAI@USF.

According to a release, "The two institutions have been in conversation about possible integration of operations and academic programs in the arts at various times over the past decade, and faculty have collaborated on exhibitions, programs, and initiatives in and beyond classrooms and studios." And, they say, the letter of intent the schools have signed is an agreement "to explore an integration that recognizes the prestige and history of both institutions while opening new doors for future opportunities under a combined entity."

SFAI has been a well respected arts institution for over a century, and its faculty and alumni have repeatedly expressed dismay that it might have to fold. Founded in 1871, it's also one of the country's oldest art schools, and it's been home to many famous students and faculty that have included Richard Diebenkorn, Annie Leibovitz, Angela Davis, Cristóbal Martínez, Barry McGee, Catherine Opie, David Park, Mark Rothko, and Ansel Adams.

"USF is delighted to join with SFAI and to work with the faculty, staff, and leadership to explore this exciting opportunity to create a distinctive program of arts education, unique in higher education," says USF Board Chair John F. Nicolai in a statement. "We believe SFAI@USF would be a tremendous benefit to the Bay Area, the nation, and the world."

SFAI Board Chair Lonnie Graham issued his own statement about the proposed merger saying, "We were foremost impressed by USF's profound commitment to social justice and especially by its deep understanding of the power of the arts to be a significant pillar of change in the world. USF has shown the depth of its commitment to be a major force for change in legal systems, social programs, education, and technology."

Graham adds, "This union would create an innovative confluence of the arts and academics to advance a curriculum that reinforces the value of the arts in changing the world."

News of this acquisition/merger follows not long after the finalization of an acquisition of Mills College in Oakland — another historic institution that fell on hard times in part due to dwindling enrollment and nearly had to shut down — by Northeastern University.

USF and SFAI's announcement indicates that the due-diligence period will include drafted plans by both schools' faculty on how to redesign and integrate their curricula "to ensure the new integrated academic unit would reflect the vision and mission of both institutions."

Previously: SF Art Institute Cleans House After Controversial Attempt to Sell Diego Rivera Mural

A screaming student who had allegedly made threats on social media against the University of San Francisco campus was arrested Sunday night after students locked themselves in campus buildings in fear of a potential mass shooting.

Rumors of an active shooter on the main campus at Gillson Hall spread like wildfire Sunday evening at USF, and students posted multiple videos to Twitter that documented the sound of one male student screaming in a quad at the top of his lungs and trying to gain access to a locked building. The San Francisco Police Department ultimately responded to the campus around 7 p.m., and one student was taken into custody, as KRON 4 reports. The student was not found to be armed.

The university was apparently slow to issue an official bulletin on the situation, as the Examiner reports, prompting anger from scared students who believed their lives might be in danger. At 7:50 p.m., the school issued a message via SMS and robocall to faculty and students saying there was "no active shooter on campus and our community is not in danger." There was a subsequent message from the school at 9:15 p.m. saying, "There was an alert tonight that sparked campus-wide concern. All members of the University are safe. USF has confirmed that there is no active shooter on campus."

Students on campus said that the arrested student was heard yelling about a possible shooting, and they believe that university officials should have been more proactive in locking down the campus.

The student, who has not been named, had also allegedly posted some disturbing messages to Instagram. In video below, he can be heard yelling "Open the fucking door right now" and "Sir, this MY fucking property!"

The University tweeted around midnight that "Public Safety collaborated with SFPD and our student was taken into custody." They added, "We will continue to work with all involved and understand that this is a very difficult situation for our community." They further tweeted that clinicians and mental health staff would be available for students who wanted to speak with them today.

USF student KelliAnne Westad writes in a comment on the Examiner, "There are no words to explain how incredibly disappointed I am in USF." She writes, "Without any doubt, all buildings on campus should have been in lockdown [during the incident]. Emergency texts, emails, and phone calls should have been sent to all students, parents, and employees the moment a threat was present on campus. We test out emergency procedures SO OFTEN. They exist. They work. Why did USF refuse to use them?"

Photo: usfca/Instagram

Two University of San Francisco students were hitting the books in the University Center Tuesday morning when three suspects entered the building and one of them began hitting the students. NBC Bay Area reports that the two suspects also robbed them of their possessions in the process.

School officials sent out a crime bulletin yesterday which detailed the assault and robbery. It apparently went down in the third floor Parina Lounge, and is believed to have occurred after the suspects stole a laptop from somewhere else on campus.

"This is normally a very safe atmosphere for students, whether studying or socializing," Lieutenant Kevin Dillon of the USF Department of Public Safety explained to NBC. "This is very random."

Although police believe three suspects were involved, they are not all reported to have done the actual punching. Apparently one served as a lookout while a woman struck the students in the face. No word on what the third suspect was up to — perhaps taking in the campus sights?

According to the crime bulletin, the two victims were treated for injuries. The suspects were seen fleeing toward Fulton Street after the attack, and police are reviewing surveillance video. No arrests were made.

Related: Masked Men Tie Up SF State Students And Steal Their Stuff

An elderly San Francisco woman is in the hospital today, after she was brutally beaten when she tried to wake a woman sleeping outside her building.

The San Francisco Police Department was summoned to the 3300 block of Geary Boulevard, which is between Parker and Commonwealth Avenues in an area near both Laurel Heights and USF at 4:05 p.m. Wednesday.

When they arrived they discovered an 89-year-old woman suffering from head trauma. According to police, a 30-year-old woman named Angelique Parry was sleeping behind a Geary Boulevard building owned by the victim. When the elderly woman tried to wake Parry up, Parry allegedly flew into a rage and punched the older woman "multiple times in the head."

The blows caused the victim to fall to the ground. Parry then allegedly began to beat the victim's head into the pavement, stopping only when someone who passed the altercation intervened.

According to a police spokesperson, Parry then "went back to sleep" at the scene.

The victim was transported to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of head trauma. According to a police spokesperson, her injuries are not considered life threatening.

The slumbering Parry "was taken into custody when officers came on scene" and was booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, trespassing, aggravated assault, and resisting arrest. According to a spokesperson with the San Francisco Sheriff's Department, as of Thursday afternoon Parry remains in custody.

A pedestrian was seriously injured this morning, after being struck by a sports utility vehicle while crossing a street near San Francisco's infamous Jefferson Airplane Mansion, the San Francisco Police Department says.

According to SFPD spokesperson Officer Gordon Shyy, the pedestrian was crossing the street at around 8:20 this morning near near Fulton Street and Willard North Street when the driver of a blue SUV struck him or her.

(The northwest corner of Fulton Street and Willard North Street is also known as the location of "Jefferson Airplane Mansion," a Colonial Revival style home at 2400 Fulton Street that was the home of the rock group Jefferson Airplane in the late 1960s.)

The pedestrian, whom the Chron notes may or may not have been in a crosswalk, suffered a "serious head injury," and was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, Shyy says.

The SUV driver remained on the scene and was cooperating with SFPD, Shyy says.

A close call between a driver and pedestrian ended in critical injuries for the latter — but the harm was caused by a suspect wielding a gun, not a vehicle.

According to SFPD spokesperson Officer Gordon Shyy, SFPD responded to the typically-quiet intersection of Golden Gate Avenue and Broderick Street on reports of a shooting at 2:15 p.m. Sunday.

NBC Bay Area reports that a "near-miss" between a motorist and pedestrian at the intersection ignited an argument that ended with the driver shooting the pedestrian.

Witnesses who spoke with Hoodline said that the driver, "a man in his 20s or 30s driving a gray Honda sedan," fired two shots at the pedestrian, described only as male, as he stood at the southeast corner of the intersection.

There is a four-way stop, complete with crosswalks, at the intersection at which the shooting occurred. According to a witness who spoke with NBC Bay Area, the pedestrian was not in any of the crosswalks as he crossed Golden Gate.

That's when witnesses say, the pedestrian was approached by a driver traveling at "a high rate of speed," and had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" the victim reportedly shouted at the driver, who then, witnesses told NBC, made a u-turn and returned to shoot the victim.

After the gunshots, witnesses heard the victim cry "please help, I've been shot," Hoodline reports. Witnesses aided the victim, who was struck in the chest and abdomen, until he was transported to San Francisco General Hospital in critical condition, Shyy says.

The suspect, who police do not believe knew the victim prior to the shooting, fled the scene and remains at large, Shyy says.

As always, SFPD urges anyone who knows there whereabouts of the driver, or who has any information on this case, to call their anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444 or send an anonymous text to TIP411 with “SFPD” in the subject line.

[NBC Bay Area]
[Hoodline]

San Francisco accounting professor Mark Landis was confronted by some of the students he allegedly taped while using the toilet nearly nine months before his arrest, had allegedly taken nearly 180 hidden-camera bathroom videos before then, and had left what police characterize as a "suicide note," court records reveal.

As you might recall, Landis, who taught accounting at SF State and USF, was arrested on July 23 and charged with 15 misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy after a lengthy investigation by the San Francisco Police Department.

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According to court records obtained by the Bay Area Reporter, Landis' alleged house of hidden-camera cards began to tumble during a student celebration at his 17th Street home on November 16, 2013.

The party sounded so nice! "We chatted, we had a couple of drinks,” one attendee later told SFPD, but at 11 p.m., things took a turn when, while taking a pee, the party guest reached for a tissue from the toilet-top box. That's when Landis' guest says he discovered a hidden camera, then, Sergeant Chahmal Kerow said in a probable cause statement, "freaked out and thought if the camera was turned on, he will be caught and Landis will find out."

The man ended up taking the camera's memory card, told two fellow guests what was afoot, and left the party. The following morning, the friends reconvened at Dolores Park, then confronted Landis, telling him that they'd found the camera and that they were going to warn people against coming to his home. Then, four of the people who were caught on the memory card went to SFPD's Mission Station and turned the card over to police.

According to the SFPD, the memory card's files include an October 25, 2013 video of Landis setting up the camera, followed by 180 brief videos of men and women using Landis' toilet. Almost all of the videos, the BAR reports, show the genitals of the bathroom-users.

According to court records, SFPD also seized four laptops, seven flash drives, two memory cards, a digital camera, and a “last will and testament - suicide note,” from Landis, the BAR reports.

Landis shared a lease on the apartment where the alleged crimes occurred with a person named Hoi Le. Both were evicted from the apartment for alleged non-payment of rent in June, 2014. It is unclear if Landis remained in San Francisco following the eviction.

Landis pleaded not guilty on July 29, even as his attorney, Thanh Ngo, "indicated that Landis may have been committing crimes for more than a year," the BAR reported at the time.

Ngo says that he is "very disappointed" that San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon "wants to try this case in the public," requesting a (denied) gag order for prosecutors and saying that "the press might jeopardize my client's right to a fair trial."

Landis, who is presently free on $100,000 bond, is expected to return to court on September 9.

[BAR]

After an eight-month-long investigation, a former professor at the University of San Francisco and SF State stands accused of using a secret bathroom camera to record students from both schools as they used the facilities.

Mark Landis had taught accounting at SF State since 2006, and at USF for less than two years when a student at a November, 2013 party at Landis' home noticed a tissue box on the toilet that, he discovered, contained a camera, the Ex reports.

The student took the memory card for the camera, and later "examined the contents of the memory card and saw that there were many instances of guests being filmed in the bathroom," then turned the footage over to police.

SF District Attorney George Gascon told KTVU that at least 15 people appeared on the bathroom-cam tape, many of whom were past and current students of Landis'.

Landis was arrested on Wednesday and was charged with 15 misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy. He is scheduled to be arraigned next Tuesday, and has been released on $100,000 bail.

SF State spokesperson Ellen Griffen told KTVU that Landis resigned from the university last Friday, and USF said that he stopped teaching for them after "allegations surfaced late last year."

A subsequent investigation into Landis' alleged bathroom photography studio has uncovered even more video, with, as Gascon put it, "many more victims," all of whom need to be identified.

Therefore, anyone who believes that they might have been caught on Landis' camera is encouraged to call the Police Department’s Special Victims Unit at (415) 553-1521 or the District Attorney’s Office at (415) 553-1751.

[SF Examiner]
[Associated Press/SF Chronicle]
[KTVU]
[KGO]

After a day (for some, a whole weekend) celebrating a Catholic holiday, think you can handle one more day of contemplation? Sure you can.

Tonight at the University of San Francisco, the school invites you to hang out with MSNBC host and long pauser Chris Matthews (did you know he used to write for the Chron and the Ex?) and San Francisco's Auxiliary Bishop Robert W. McElroy.

Matthews, as USF's Senior Director of Media Relations Anne-Marie Devine reminds us, worked in the White House as a presidential speechwriter before serving as top aide to then Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill. McElroy is the author of several books on American theology and social ethics within American foreign policy.

According to Devine, attendees can expect an "inspiring conversation about public service, faith, and the current political landscape" from the Harvard and Stanford educated bishop and the television host.

What: In conversation with Chris Matthews and Robert W. McElroy
When: Doors open at 6pm; program begins at 6:30pm (seating is first come, first seated).
Where: The McLaren Conference Center at the University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton Street
Cost: Free

The gap between the costs to attend college in San Francisco just got a little wider last week, when the University of San Francisco announced that their tuition at the school will hit a new high. How does the private school's costs compare with San Francisco's other institutions of higher learning? Let's find out...

USF's Foghorn newspaper reported Wednesday that full time undergrads will be paying $40,996 per year to attend the school. Want to live on campus? That'll be $8,950 a year to share a double room. A meal plan is an additional $4,370 a year, making for a total of about $13,320 a year. You can see a schedule of all their fees here.

That means that a student at the private, Jesuit-run institution who doesn't receive any grants or scholarships could end paying at least $163,894 for their undergrad degree, in tuition alone. Add in what you're going to pay for housing, which might actually be more pricey off campus than on, and you could end up with a BA or BS with a $215,000 price tag.

Comparatively, as part of the public California State University System, a student at SF State (or any other CSU school) will pay $5,472 in tuition per year. Students who aren't California state residents will pay an additional $372 per class unit. Every semester, students are charged about $500 in additional fees, you can see their fee schedule here. If you want to live and eat in a dorm, combined housing and meal plans will run you around $11,384 annually, with many options to choose from.

So an SF State student who makes it out in four years will be paying somewhere in the ballpark of $26,000 for tuition and fees. Factor in the occasional meal and a place to live, and the price tag for your SF State degree will hit $71,536.

Yes, it's comparing apples to solid-gold oranges, but we'd be remiss if we didn't consider, even briefly, our beleaguered City College of San Francisco. No, you won't be able to get a bachelor's degree there, but it's still a solid place to learn things. At CCSF, you pay $46 per semester per unit for classes (plus an additional $203 per unit if you're not a CA resident), and an additional $23/semester in fees. If you take a traditional "full load" of 24 units per year, that means CCSF will cost you $1,104 a year.

Dayle Smith, an associate dean at USF's undergraduate School of Management, has resigned citing his disagreement with the school's aggressive recruitment of Chinese nationals with poor English language skills.

Smith believed that the school was going to have trouble administering the amount of extra help these Chinese students would need, and that it would dilute the educational experience for all the enrolled students.

Matier and Ross reports on the flap following a letter sent out to faculty by Business School Dean Mike Webber announcing Smith's departure. Webber wrote that "given that so many of these students have weak English skills and are disproportionately from one country, we are going to be faced with some unique pedagogical and cultural challenges."

[Chron]