The American Association of University Professors issued a statement Wednesday denouncing “overly restrictive policies” that risk stifling free expression. Many of the new policies require protesters to pre-register, severely limit where rallies can take place and impose new restrictions on the use of loudspeakers and signs.
“Our universities should encourage, not stifle, open and lively dialogue and debate about even the most deeply held beliefs,” the statement said, adding that many policies were imposed without faculty input.
The University of Pennsylvania has outlined new “temporary guidelines” for student protests, including a ban on camping, overnight demonstrations, and the use of loudspeakers or speakers after 5pm on school days. The university also requires posters and banners to be removed within two weeks of being put up. The university says it will continue to respect freedom of speech and lawful assembly.
Indiana University prohibits protests after 11 pm under a new “expressive activity policy” that went into effect on August 1. The policy also prohibits “camping” or the setting up of any kind of shelter on campus, and states that signs cannot be displayed on university grounds without prior permission.
At the University of South Florida, permits are now required for tents, canopies, banners, signs and loudspeakers, and the university’s “speech, expression and assembly” rules prohibit any “activity,” including protests or demonstrations, after 5 p.m. on weekdays, on weekends and entirely during the last two weeks of the semester.
According to draft documents obtained by Harvard’s student newspaper over the summer, the university was considering banning overnight camping, chalk messages and unauthorized signs.
“I think we’re currently seeing a resurgence of repression on college campuses that we haven’t seen since the late 1960s,” said Lisa Lieberwitz, a labor and employment law professor at Cornell University who serves as general counsel for the AAUP.
The university says it encourages free speech as long as it doesn’t interfere with learning, and that it was simply updating existing rules on demonstrations to keep campus safe.
Tensions have been high on university campuses since Hamas militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages.
The death toll in Gaza surpassed 40,000 on Thursday and is rising, according to the Gaza Strip Health Ministry, but many student protesters in the United States have vowed to continue their activism.
About 50 Columbia students are still facing disciplinary action over last spring’s demonstrations after a mediation process that began earlier in the summer stalled, said Mahmoud Khalil, the lead negotiator representing student protesters at Columbia, who blamed the university’s administration for the impasse.
“Universities want to appear to be talking to students, but these are all false measures to reassure the donor community and their political class,” said Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The Ivy League university in northern Manhattan was plunged into chaos earlier this year by student protests that culminated in police armed with zip ties and riot shields storming a building occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Similar protests have spread to university campuses across the country, many of which have led to violent clashes with police and more than 3,000 arrests. Many of the students arrested during the police crackdown have had their charges dropped, but some are still awaiting prosecutors’ decisions. Many students have also seen their academic careers affected, including suspensions, loss of diplomas, and other disciplinary measures.
A student is arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin on April 24, 2024. Brandon Bell/Getty Images File
Shafik was among the university officials summoned for questioning in Congress, where Republican lawmakers sharply criticized him for not doing enough to combat concerns about anti-Semitism on Columbia’s campus.
She announced her resignation in an email to university officials just weeks before classes were due to begin on Sept. 3. The university on Monday began restricting access to campus to people with Columbia ID and registered guests, saying it wanted to limit “potential disruptions” as the new semester approaches.
“This period has placed an enormous strain on my family, as well as others in our community,” Shafik wrote in the letter. “Over the summer I have reflected and decided that my withdrawal at this time would best help Columbia navigate the challenges ahead.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters first set up tents on Columbia’s campus when Shafik testified before Congress in mid-April, at a time when he condemned anti-Semitism but faced criticism for how he dealt with faculty and students accused of bigotry.
The next day, the school sent police to remove the tents, but the students returned and demanded that the school cut financial ties with Israel and companies that support the war, sparking a wave of similar protests on campuses across the country.
The campus was largely quiet this summer, but conservative news media published images in June of text messages purportedly exchanged between university administrators attending a May 31 panel discussion titled “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future.”
In a July 8 letter to school officials, Shafik said the message was unprofessional and “disturbingly touches on long-standing anti-Semitic tropes,” and the staff were fired from their jobs.
Other prominent Ivy League leaders have resigned in recent months, largely in response to volatile protests on campuses.
University of Pennsylvania President Liz McGill resigned in December after less than two years in the position after facing pressure from donors and criticism over her testimony at a congressional hearing in which she repeatedly denied calling for the genocide of Jews on campus in violation of the university’s code of conduct.
Also in January, Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned following allegations of plagiarism and similar criticism over her congressional testimony.
