It’s been a little confusing since arrests were made during the big pro-Hamas protest on the University of Texas-Austin campus on Wednesday. Are students free to return to campus?
Yes and no. It seems there was confusion on Friday. On Thursday, the Travis County district attorney dropped all criminal trespass charges against those who were arrested. On Friday, the university confirmed that the arrested students will not be allowed to freely be on campus.
University spokesman Mike Rosen released a statement Friday afternoon. Students will be allowed to complete courses for the semester but may only return to campus for academic reasons and to access university resources with approval.
It sounds as though they may return to class and, say, the library or other places to support their classes, but they are restricted when it comes to anything else. In other words, they can finish their classes but they can’t return to join another demonstration.
It seems to me it’s like when parents ground a child – they are confined to the home and only allowed to go to school and approved after-school activities. No free time socializing is allowed.
Sounds like common sense, right? Let the students finish the year but don’t allow them the opportunity to create chaos and try to shut down the school again.
Students may appeal to return to campus in full, Rosen said but must wait for the appeal process to finish before they are granted access again. In the meantime, students must stay off the university’s lawn.
If and when students can return is up to the Dean of Students office, UT spokesperson Brian Davis said. Because all disciplinary actions are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, individual students face individual punishment for their actions, meaning some could be granted accommodations while others may not, Davis said.
Students sign on to a code of conduct when they are accepted to a university. There are rules. There is a right to protest but there is not a right to shut down a campus. There is no right to prevent other students from going to class or the cafeteria or any other part of campus life. In the case of UT-A, the demonstrators planned to set up an encampment on the South Lawn. Protesters were warned that an encampment would not be allowed to go up. They were told to stay off the South Lawn. Putting up tents is trespassing, for example.
There was some confusion as flyers were distributed around campus by students and members of the press. University spokesman Brian Davis said the regulations are not new. The flyers were meant to remind students of the regulations.
“For the last two days, The University of Texas provided an abbreviated list of rules related to conduct during protests, including typical consequences as a result of being arrested for criminal trespassing,” the statement continued. “This notice was provided as a courtesy to all protesters — students and non-University affiliated persons — to help them understand potential consequences for decisions to violate University rules.”
It was disturbing to see faculty members join in with the students in the protest. They should be fired. It seems to me that they served as agitators. The faculty failed the students by inserting their political ideology – in this case, it was anti-Israel and anti-Jew rhetoric – instead of guiding them on how to understand the right of Israel’s existence. It is wrong to blame Jewish students for how the Biden administration is conducting itself in its (fading) support of Israel. Students are being indoctrinated to believe Israel is evil and committing war crimes.
Outside agitators are infiltrating campus protests across the country. The same is happening in Austin. They are not students but adults who are looking to cause chaos.
It’s been reported that demonstrations have taken place on the UT-A campus since the Israel-Hamas war began in October. Those have gone unreported, at least to the extent seen about Wednesday’s protest. Why was the Wednesday protest different? I think it is because it was part of an organized effort funded by dark money organizations who want to encourage the march to Marxism seen on college campuses. Many protests sprang up on Wednesday on college campuses across the country. All were large protests and many included arrests being made.
College protests in support of Hamas are growing, not fading. They are well-funded and organized. This isn’t grassroots activism that is just organically happening. The demonstrations are turning violent and that has to be nipped in the bud before a student gets killed. With signs reading ‘final solution’ and chants of “From the river to the sea,” that concern isn’t hyperbole. It’s just a matter of time unless the adults who are supposed to be in charge are willing to do their jobs.
