Photo by Scott Ball for The San Antonio Report
Pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza marched down UTSA’s outdoor hallway on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
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A wave of protests related to the Israel-Hamas war hit Texas colleges this week, but most didn’t cause much of a stir. At the University of Texas at Dallas, students staged a sit-in near the president’s office. At the University of Texas at San Antonio, students marched through campus waving flags. At Texas A&M University, people gathered in the plaza.
But only one protest at the University of Texas at Austin led to mass arrests: no one accused the crowd of being violent, but 57 people were taken away by police and state troopers who arrived at the rally in riot gear and on horseback.
UT Austin officials have defended their response, saying they sought to disperse the group because there were signs before the rally that the group might become violent or engage in anti-Semitic behavior. When protesters did not disperse, they were arrested on trespassing charges (all charges were later dropped), leading critics on and off campus to argue that more restraint could have been done and to question whether the university and state police overstepped their authority.
Democratic Sen. Sarah Eckhart of Austin, Texas, herself a University of Texas Law School graduate, raised these questions in text messages to Häsel and University of Texas System Chancellor J.B. Milliken on the day of the crackdown.
“It appears the state is treating UT Austin differently than other campuses,” she wrote at 6:07 p.m. in a text message sent to The Texas Tribune and first reported by the Austin American-Statesman. “I have not seen any reports of police in tactical gear being sent to other campuses. Has UT Austin requested this increased presence?”
Hartzell’s response came 79 minutes later.
“We have asked for your help, Senator,” Hartzell responded. “They have indicated a desire to emulate what has happened at Columbia University and elsewhere, but we are doing our best to avoid that for obvious reasons.”
Hartzell said he couldn’t comment on the response on other campuses, but “this group is a chapter of a national organization that is doing similar work in other locations.”
“They were clearly willing to break the rules of our protest, despite us telling them not to let them do so,” he wrote. “I wish we had never been in this situation.”
On the day of the arrests, the Department of Public Safety said they had been sent to the campus at the order of Gov. Greg Abbott, who has strongly condemned pro-Palestinian protests and ordered universities to crack down on anti-Semitism. Eckhart told the Tribune on Friday that he believes Abbott targeted the University of Texas at Austin students because it is politically expedient.
“DPS’ deployment was a horrific, unnecessary and costly overreaction,” she said.
D’Angelo Colter, a University of Texas at Austin student who was on the scene during the protest and subsequent police response, agreed.
“I believe the reaction in Austin has been stronger than at other satellite campuses because of its close proximity to the Capitol,” he said. “The state tries to control and monitor everything that happens at UT. When students express dissent, the state has the impulse to retaliate.”
Campus Rules
The rules for demonstrations on the UT-Austin campus are simple: Protesters are not allowed to block building entrances, cause disruption in buildings, destroy property, use amplified sound without restraint, or allow others to see or hear their messages.
Non-students are allowed to attend protests on campus, and the university cannot cancel events based on the views of speakers.
“Peaceful protests within the bounds of our rules are acceptable,” Hartzell said in a letter to the campus community on Wednesday.
But school officials have suggested the protest was clearly problematic from the start. In a separate letter to the university on Thursday, Hartzell said administrators believed the protesters were trying to occupy and disrupt campus for an extended period of time. Hartzell said the strategy was modeled on a “nationally organized protest playbook.”
The university noted that 13 pro-Palestinian “free speech events” have been held on campus since October without incident, but Hartzell said breaking school rules and “interfering with others’ ability to learn” will not be tolerated.
“The protesters attempted to carry out their stated intention to occupy the campus,” Hartzell wrote. “They were joined by individuals not affiliated with UT, and many ignored constant calls from university officials to exercise restraint and disperse immediately.”
It’s unclear what specific communications UT officials sent in anticipation of violence. An Instagram post from organizers the day before the event called on students to walk out of class at 11:40 a.m. and march to “occupy the lawn.” Another post outlined a schedule that included guest speakers, two teach-ins and a two-hour study break. “Bring blankets, food, masks and energy,” it said.
Most universities across the state have similar rules regarding protests, but enforcement appears to be left up to the university administration.
“We didn’t see anybody stirring up the UTSA crowd or the UT Arlington crowd,” George Robb of the Austin Lawyers Guild told The Texas Tribune on Thursday.
Leaders at several state universities, including the UT System, stressed that communication between university officials and protest organizers led to its peaceful conclusion.
University of Texas at Arlington President Jennifer Cowley sent a message to students ahead of the protest, reminding them that one of the university’s responsibilities is to provide opportunities for civil discourse, and that the university must keep the campus safe, and has reached out to protest organizers to ensure their understanding of their right to protest when it leads to civil disobedience or disruption.
“I am confident that the university has the ability to discuss controversial issues in a civil and respectful manner while maintaining a safe campus environment for all,” Cowley wrote.
He noted that other campuses in the UT system were simply following rules in their policy handbook that allow demonstrations as long as they don’t disrupt student learning.
No arrests were made at UTSA, but organizers expressed frustration after being told by administrators before the protest that slogans in Arabic or referring to Israel and the use of loudspeakers were prohibited.
When asked about the matter Thursday, university spokesman Joe Isbrand pointed to a policy handbook that says no speech, expression or assembly may disrupt or impede classes or pedestrian or vehicular traffic. He said that rule also applies to bans on loudspeakers and signs on poles or poles.
More than 100 students, some wearing masks and carrying flags, attended the protest at Texas A&M University. No arrests were made and the protest was peaceful.
Saidid Ahmar, president of the school’s Democratic Socialists of America Youth Association, said A&M has held several events this month calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza, all of which were approved by the university and that he has never received any contact from the university asking him to cancel them.
“Texas A&M University did what it should have done, which was to give students the right to speak out,” Armour said.
And at the University of Texas at Dallas, about 100 people, some carrying drums, megaphones and signs, lined a hallway outside the office of University President Richard Benson, who eventually agreed to meet with protesters in person to hear their concerns.
First Amendment Provisions
In recent years, university officials and state Republican leaders have been vocal about the need for free speech on campuses, especially out of concern that conservative voices are being drowned out on campus.
In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed a free speech bill establishing all common outdoor areas at public universities as traditional public forums, allowing anyone, not just students or university officials, to exercise free speech there, as long as the activity is lawful and does not interfere with the normal functioning of the campus.
Six months ago, the University of Texas at Austin celebrated “Free Speech Week” with a video reminding students that outside protesters were allowed on campus.
Thomas Leatherberry, director of the First Amendment Clinic at the SMU School of Law in Dallas, said the law creates very limited circumstances in which free speech rights can be violated. He said protesters are protected regardless of what is said unless there is a harassment incident, actual threat of violence or potential incitement to riot.
“There are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers,” he said, “but it seems to me that the district attorney’s dismissal of most of the charges filed yesterday for lack of probable cause was an overreaction.”
Travis Fife of the Texas Civil Rights Project said the incident at UT Austin is a chilling example of how criminal law and law enforcement are being used to suppress students’ First Amendment rights, and that comments made by Abbott this week calling for the expulsion of protesters could be prejudiced in court.
Arrests are currently being made and will continue until the crowd disperses.
These protesters should go to jail.
Anti-Semitism has no place in Texas.
Students who take part in hateful, anti-Semitic protests at Texas public universities should be expelled. https://t.co/XhLlQdvUl0
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 24, 2024
“There’s something called view discrimination in the First Amendment, where the government goes after somebody because of their views,” he said. “That’s the most serious First Amendment offense, and I’m sure there are lawyers out there laughing that Mr. Abbott tweeted that, because it’s clearly view discrimination.”
Fife said the theory that protesters must contact university officials and get approval before protesting is the opposite of what the First Amendment seeks to protect.
“The important thing is that if you are non-violent and you are in a public place expressing yourself as a crowd, you are allowed to do so and you don’t have to ask for permission,” Fife said.
Disclosure: The University of Texas at Dallas, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, SMU and University of Texas at San Antonio are financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization supported in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters have no role in Tribune journalism. A complete list of financial supporters can be found here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.
The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan newsroom supported by members, dedicated to keeping Texans informed and engaged on Texas politics and policy. For more information, visit texastribune.org.
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