First Amendment Challenge to Suspension from University of Texas for Pro-Palestinian Protest Can Go Forward
From today’s opinion by Judge Robert Pitman (W.D. Tex.) in Qaddumi v. Hartzell:
Qaddumi challenges his suspension from the University of Texas at Austin (“UT”), where Defendants currently work or previously worked as administrators, as a violation of his constitutional rights. Qaddumi was involved in planning a protest, to include a “walk out of class,” “guest speaker,” and two “teach-in[s]”, about ongoing violence in Gaza in April 2024 as a member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (“PSC”).
He alleges these planned protest activities were peaceful in nature, but university officials claimed that protests held by aligned groups at “Columbia, Rutgers, and Yale” were “creating campus encampments” (apparently referencing the Students for Justice in Palestine (“SJP”) student group, a separate entity with groups on those campuses) and have disrupted university operations to such a degree that they foresaw this, too, would disrupt university activities. UT issued a directive to students ordering them not to hold the event, or to face discipline under the university rules. Qaddumi alleges the PSC responded to UT’s directive and explained that the planned protest was peaceful and educational in nature, and that they had no plans for setting up an overnight “encampment.”
Separately, in March 2024, the Governor of Texas issued an executive order defining PSC as a “radical” organization and defining as “antisemitic” phrases that PSC uses at protests, such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and stating views many of its members hold, such as saying that Israel’s current policies compare to those of Germany during World War II, are also antisemitic. The executive order instructed UT to “ensure that [its] policies are being enforced and that groups such as the [PSC] and [SJP] are disciplined for violating [UT] policies.”
Qaddumi, along with other students, proceeded with the April 2024 protest despite the directive to cancel it. Members of the UT Police Department arrived at the protest and called for students to disperse their protest, and Qaddumi alleges he relayed their instructions to the crowd. On accusations of criminal trespass, UT police officers subsequently arrested Qaddumi among other students. After his arrest, Qaddumi alleges he and his fellow protesters were released and charged with no crimes.
At the protest, Qaddumi alleges that counter-protesters were present holding Israeli flags and signs criticizing Palestine, who were not arr
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