Texas Public Colleges Crack Down on Peaceful Anti-Israel Protests
As pro-Palestine demonstrations erupt at college campuses across the nation, several public colleges in Texas have come under fire for cracking down on peaceful protests. While public universities are bound by the First Amendment, a March executive order by Gov. Greg Abbot forces colleges to suppress antisemitic speech, seemingly motivating some of the universities’ responses this month.
Following the arrests of over 100 students at a tent encampment at Columbia University, pro-Palestine, anti-Israel protests in solidarity with the Columbia protesters have sprung up at colleges across the county. However, protests at several Texas universities have been met with immediate attempts to suppress demonstrations.Â
Students from the University of Texas at San Antonio told the San Antonio Current that, during a pro-Palestine demonstration on Wednesday, administrators told protesters they could not use the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in their chants, nor could they use the words “Zionism” and “Israel.”
The UT San Antonio students said administrators told them the phrases counted as antisemitic speech and that they were also barred from chanting in Arabic.Â
While the students allege a galling suppression of their First Amendment rights, their claims have not yet been fully verified. The San Antonio Current wrote that a university spokesperson who was present during the protest “couldn’t immediately comment” on the allegations. A day earlier, UT San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy released a statement warning that the school would “not tolerate disruptive behavior, vandalism, or antisemitism.”Â
At the University of Texas at Austin, university officials took a much more dramatic stand against student free expression.
On Wednesday, video emerged of police on the UT Austin campus
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