Free speech advocates contend colleges should be bastions of the free exchange of ideas. Texas campuses have been the stage of historical protests — from the civil rights movement to the Vietnam War.
But this week, when demonstrators took over the University of Texas’ south mall to protest the war in Gaza and the system’s investment in companies that supply weapons to Israel, state troopers began arresting them.
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the troopers to campus in a stark contrast to his statement in 2019 when he signed a bill protecting First Amendment rights at Texas schools.
At the time, Abbott said, “Some colleges are banning free speech on college campuses. Well, no more.”
Now he is urging schools to punish those whose views he believes are antisemitic.
As Wednesday’s demonstration went on, Abbott posted on social media that the protesters “belong in jail.”
More than 50 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at UT on Wednesday as state troopers and police intervened. The following day the campus faced a 10 p.m. curfew. That’s prompting some people — from politicians to advocates to First Amendment experts — to question the state’s policies on free speech and students’ rights.
From coast to coast, pro-Palestinian protests have taken place on college campuses recently. Demonstrators are asking for a ceasefire in Gaza. They’re also asking universities to divest from companies that make weapons used in the war. Many demonstrations included clashes between protesters and law enforcement, leading to arrests.
The protests gained momentum after over 100 students at Columbia University were arrested and charged with trespassing after many set up tents and spent the night on the campus lawn.
Texas leaders didn’t want to risk the same happening here.
“The University’s decision to not allow yesterday’s event to go as planned was made because we had credible indications that the event’s organizers, whether national or local, were trying to follow the pattern we see elsewhere, using the apparatus of free speech and expression to severely disrupt a campus for a long period,” UT President Jay Hartzell in a statement to the school community.
UT officials noted that since October, the university has had 13 pro-Palestinian events on campus, about half of which were protests. They said that the events happened largely without incident.
Abbott’s office did not respond to an email seeking comment.
But students have the right to organize and express their ideas, said Roger Reeves, a UT associate professor of English.
“It was appalling, abysmal, repressive. It was awful,” said Reeves, who also holds two graduate degrees from the university. The “almost militaristic” presence was “absolutely unnecessary.”
Students at the demonstration said the events were peaceful until law enforcement officers entered the campus with riot gear, some on horseback and others carrying zip ties and pepper spray.
Abbott posted on social media that students “joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled” and “Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period.”
Experts say it’s not uncommon for divisive topics to face pushback on campuses.
In recent years, conservatives objected when their speakers faced protests and were shut out at schools. Texas’ campuses now face increased scrutiny from the state’s Republican lawmakers as the schools are accused of promoting “woke agendas.” A recent ban on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs has left many students and faculty saying they feel that the Legislature is infringing on their freedom of speech.
Wednesday was a “dark day in the history of this university,” said Michael Sierra-Arévalo, a UT alum and assistant professor of sociology. “I love this place. This place changed my life. And what I saw yesterday made me very sad.”
A UT spokesman stressed in a text message to The Dallas Morning News that protesters were arrested “not because they were exercising free speech, but because they violated institutional rules that they were warned about. Of course we support free speech. But free speech does not give someone license to commit other violations.”
Most of those arrested at the public flagship campus were charged with criminal trespassing. However, Travis County prosecutors found “deficiencies” in charging documents and dropped all charges.
Hartzell noted in his Thursday statement that 26 of 55 protesters arrested were not affiliated with the university.
Friday afternoon UT officials shared protest rules, which included banning people previously arrested for trespassing from university activities that are not strictly academic, such as for classes or living on campus.
Any student who might face such restrictions won’t be notified until after finals and graduation, officials said.
Meanwhile, advocates stress that officials cannot throw people in jail simply because they disagree with the views expressed, said JT Morris, a senior attorney at FIRE — the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
“People have strong views about the issue,” Morris said about the conflict in Gaza. “But it doesn’t mean that government officials can step in because they disagree with those views.”
Last month, Abbott issued an executive order he said was aimed at stopping antisemitism on college campuses in Texas.
He noted that recent protests over the Gaza conflict were antisemitic. He specifically singled out two pro-Palestinian student organizations, Students for Justice in Palestine and the Palestine Solidarity Committee. The latter organized the UT protest and was suspended by the university the following day.
These organizations have led campus protests nationwide since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 240 people hostage, according to the Israeli government. In the months following, Israel started bombing the Gaza strip, killing over 34,000 people, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The Dallas Morning News cannot independently verify these numbers.
In his executive order, Abbott argued that the chant “from the river to sea, Palestine will be free” is antisemitic and should not be allowed on Texas campuses.
The chant refers to the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea. Critics argue the chant calls for the elimination of the state of Israel, while those who use it say it is a reference to the location where Palestinians live and have lived in a call for their freedom.
Abbott stated in his order that students who violate it — including by using that chant, which was heard at the UT protest — should be punished in a variety of ways, including expulsion.
Campuses across the country often face protests when controversial speakers are invited. In recent years, often left-leaning students protested the presence of a right-leaning speaker, including some known for holding a white supremacist ideology.
A 2023 survey by The Associated Press points to the tension on campus. It found that Americans believe that people on the left enjoy more freedom of speech on college campuses than those on the right.
“Even very offensive and very hateful speech is protected by the First Amendment,” said Thomas Leatherbury, director of the First Amendment Clinic and professor of law at Southern Methodist University. “The only speech that’s not protected by the First Amendment is incitement to violence, true threats of violence or harm, and repeated, directed harassment.”
A state university can establish reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on protesters within limits, Leatherbury said.
“If a place has habitually been used as a place of gathering, a place of speaking, a place of protesting, then it’s a public forum and protesters should be able to use that to express any viewpoint that’s protected by the First Amendment,” he noted.
In 2019, Abbott boasted that he was furthering free speech when he signed a bill to protect First Amendment rights on Texas campuses.
“Some colleges are banning free speech on college campuses,” Abbott said in the video posted on social media on June 9, 2019. “Well, no more.”
After UT protesters were arrested on Wednesday, many recirculated that video and blasted Abbott over signing the law yet also calling for students to be expelled and protesters to be jailed.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, responded to the video with a post on social media saying “‘Free speech for me but not for thee.’”
The 2019 law regards common outdoor areas on campuses — such as the south mall where the bulk of UT’s activity was on Wednesday — as places of expressive activity and allows anyone to engage in protests, speeches and assemblies as long as they are not disruptive.
State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, authored the bill. A spokesperson for Huffman did not respond to a text message seeking comment.
The legislation came as a result of what many lawmakers viewed as the silencing of conservative voices on college campuses. During floor debates at the time, Huffman made it clear that speech has limits, such as words meant to incite immediate violence.
“Just because speech is offensive does not mean that it is not protected,” she said then. “So it would have to be determined that it was meant to incite immediate violence.”
Five Republican lawmakers sponsored the measure in the House, including Charlie Geren and Craig Goldman of Fort Worth, Tom Oliverson of Cypress, Briscoe Cain of Deer Park, and Dade Phelan of Beaumont. Phelan was not the House Speaker in 2019.
Geren, Goldman, Cain and Oliverson did not respond to calls or text messages seeking comment. Spokespeople for Phelan did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Oliverson wrote on social media Thursday that he supports UT professors being fired after some faculty protested the arrests and released a statement urging more demonstrations.
Whether a speech is considered incitement of violence is often subjective, experts say.
As schools prepare for the end of the semester and commencement ceremonies, security concerns continue to arise as officials consider potential interruptions.
In text messages between Hartzell and state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt obtained by The News, the Austin Democrat and UT alum noted that she was reaching out to others to explore ways to de-escalate tensions on campus and to establish a “safe space” so future conversations don’t spill out to “unsafe spaces.”
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