Some universities are blocking diplomas from pro-Palestinian student demonstrators

Several universities across the country are withholding or threatening to withhold the degrees of seniors who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on their campuses amid a national student mobilization.

Following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7, the Israeli army launched a major offensive in Gaza, which has so far killed more than 35,000 people and caused a famine in the region. In response, students formed encampments and held demonstrations to demand that their colleges publicly denounce Israeli attacks on Gaza as a genocide, increase transparency about their Israeli ties, and divest from companies that do business with Israel.

Many pro-Palestinian demonstrations were peaceful. But hundreds of students at universities across the country have been arrested for their involvement, and some are facing hearings for alleged disciplinary violations.

Now several colleges say diplomas will be kept on hold until these investigations are completed.

Friday, administrators at the University of California, Los Angeles said threatened to discipline and withhold the degrees of at least 55 students involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

In letters sent Friday, administrators accused the students of violating the student code of conduct, claiming they failed to respond to police orders to disperse at the May 2 encampment and were guilty of “disorderly conduct”, “disturbing the peace” and “failures”. comply,” he said Guardian and the UCLA student newspaper, The Daily Brown.

The letters state that students must attend hearings to discuss their involvement in the protest and that they should not receive their diplomas until they do so, the Guardian reported. Students who do not schedule or miss their meeting will not be able to register for classes next semester or, if they are seniors, graduate.

UCLA did not immediately respond to JS’s request for comment on the pro-Palestinian student hearings.

Similar actions against students involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations are taking place at Ivy League schools such as Princeton University.

Princeton has graduated from at least two seniors involved in a pro-Palestinian strike held last week during an annual event, according to the university’s student newspaper. The Daily Princetonian.

At the annual alumni address on May 25, about 25 students raised their hands covered in red paint, dropped two banners and placed speakers under chairs at the front of the room, according to the Daily Princetonian. The demonstration lasted six minutes, after which the group staged a walkout and continued to protest outside the venue.

“The University continues to enforce position-neutral rules for time, place and manners during end-of-year events. A wide range of protest activities are permitted, including leaving an event. Significant disruption to University activities and events is not permitted,” Jennifer Morrill, director of media relations at Princeton University, told JS.

In a after on social media, the student group Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest claimed on May 27 that the students “were not given any disciplinary warning” during the protest.

One of the seniors whose graduation is being completed told JS that he and the other student left the event after seeing the protest happen, but did not participate in the rally. demonstration itself. (The student requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from the university.)

“We left because we felt uncomfortable and thought they had canceled the event because of the protest. But even if we protested, given the comment of the university spokesperson, we have done nothing wrong,” he said, noting how students in 2015 led a strike during the president’s speech and no investigation or disciplinary action was taken.

“Even at the start, people turned their backs on him and walked away – no punishment either. To my knowledge, this is the first time anyone has been punished for walking out of a university event of any kind.”

The student said he believes he and the other senior were targeted by the school because of their past efforts to de-escalate tensions on campus and hold the school accountable, especially amid the pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The two students were allowed to attend the commencement ceremony on Tuesday, but were told they could not collect their diplomas due to an ongoing disciplinary investigation.

“It is standard university practice that when seniors are involved in alleged disciplinary violations shortly before commencement, their diplomas are held pending the completion of a disciplinary investigation. Temporarily receiving a degree while an investigation is ongoing is not a disciplinary sanction,” Morrill said.

Youssef Hasweh, a senior at the University of Chicago, received an email from the associate dean of students on May 24 saying he had been identified earlier this month as someone who may have been involved in “disruptive behavior” at the encampment.

Three other students also received the email. None of the four have been given details of their alleged misconduct Chicago Sun Times.

In an email seen by JS, the dean told students they could walk in Saturday’s commencement ceremony, but that their diplomas would not be awarded until the matter was resolved through disciplinary hearings. The disciplinary process has no set timeline.

UChicago’s director of public affairs, Gerald McSwiggan, did not respond to specific questions about the four students whose degrees are being withheld. McSwiggan sent JS to a May 26 statement from the school describing the disciplinary process.

Hasweh told JS he is unsure why the school is sanctioning him and the three other targeted students when thousands participated in the school camp. He noted that he and the three other students had previously been arrested during a pro-Palestinian sit-in in the fall and that a disciplinary hearing would also take place for that.

On the same day, Hasweh and the others received the dean’s email about the second hearing. They were told that their initial hearing had been completed and that the school would issue them an official warning as a result.

“UChicago essentially uses a two-strike system,” Hasweh said. “So with the warning of the sit-in, they are going to hit us very hard with the encampment.”

Several U.S. schools, including those that hold diplomas from student protesters, have statements on their websites saying that freedom of speech and expression is valued on their campuses as long as it is not disruptive and does not violate school policy.

Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber took a moment at last week’s alumni event to remind students of the university’s policies after a protester shouted, “We are complicit in genocide” during his speech.

“We do believe in free speech, but we don’t believe in free speech that interrupts, so we’re going to put an end to this,” Eisgruber said as the protester continued to shout. This was reported by the Daily Princetonian.

But the student JS spoke to said he disagreed with the college’s handling of the situation and said it did not warrant disciplinary action.

“The university absolutely promotes freedom of expression; it is very well documented. However, I am not so sure that their handling of this situation reflects its value,” he said.

Quinn O’Connor, a UCLA alumnus who will graduate in 2022, said she feels “incredibly disappointed” by the university’s threat to keep the degrees of some students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, especially given the extent praises its tolerance towards freedom of expression as a public university.

In 2022, O’Connor and several other students held a 16-day sit-in at the Chancellor’s Building to protest the college’s return to in-person learning and to demand hybrid learning options, which had benefited disabled and immunocompromised students.

O’Connor said they felt their right to freedom of expression had been respected to some extent, noting that the students who participated in the 2022 sit-in were primarily people of color and were regularly threatened by the administration to take over the building to leave. and the police.

But they believe the council’s response to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations was different.

“I participated in an occupation of a building on that same campus not more than two years ago, from which we were never forcibly removed,” O’Connor told JS.

UCLA administrators had initially tolerated the largely peaceful pro-Palestinian encampment on campus. But after counterprotesters attacked the camp overnight, university officials issued a statement warning students to disband.

“UCLA supports peaceful protest, but not activism that harms our ability to carry out our academic mission and makes people in our community feel bullied, threatened and afraid,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a speech. statement on April 30.

Police raided and destroyed the encampment on May 2. More than 200 students and faculty were arrested, as well as UC President Michael Drake said that 15 people were injured, although protesters say the number was actually higher.

O’Connor argued that the 2022 sit-in was “more disruptive” than UCLA’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The pro-Palestinian encampment stretched mainly across a lawn, while O’Connor’s group had actively blocked administrators’ office doors in 2022, including Block’s office.

The encampment on UChicago’s campus was established on April 29 and remained for days even after the university ended. warned the students to leave or facial removal. One group of protesters temporarily took over a building on campus. Police disbanded the camp on May 7, police said Associated press.

“Security concerns have increased in recent days and risks have increased too quickly to maintain the status quo,” UChicago President Paul Alivisatos said in a speech. rack earlier this month.

But more than a dozen Chicago City Council members believe the university’s decision to deny degrees to students who attended is a suppression of free speech that contradicts the university’s own policies, and they wrote a letter on Friday to push back on her actions.

Council members expressed concern that “this crackdown is part of a pattern of colleges targeting students to make their voices heard,” according to the Chicago Sun Times.