ACLU Defends Student Free Speech In Support of Palestine at Towson University

TU Students Received Deferred Suspensions for Protesting the Killing of Children in Gaza

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TOWSON, MD – In defense of their free speech rights, five Towson University (TU) students sent a letter on August 12, 2024 to the University challenging TU’s unwarranted and unconstitutional disciplinary action punishing the students’ small “die-in” demonstration in support of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza. Supported by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland, the students’ letter calls on TU officials to expunge the students’ records, and refrain from future violations of the First Amendment as the new school year approaches.

“These punitive measures are a ludicrous response to a small, peaceful action,” said Towson University student Chessie Jackson. “From the overwhelming police response to the questionable administrative policy and kangaroo court style disciplinary proceedings, the university has stifled students’ right to protest and threatened to suppress academic freedom.”

At around noon on November 15, less than 10 Towson University students gathered on Tiger Plaza and laid in the grass, surrounded by baby dolls wrapped in white shrouds that symbolized the rising death toll of children in Gaza. The protest was organized by TU students, part of an informal group called Towson Colonized People’s Revolution (TU CPR). One of the student protesters held a megaphone, recited a poem, and read the names of people killed in Gaza. The five students disciplined were charged and found guilty in the months following the die-in protest for violations of TU policy and the student code of conduct. All of these students received deferred suspensions that will remain on their academic records for seven years.

Towson University’s effort to silence these students violates their free speech rights guaranteed to them by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It has chilled TU CPR’s ability to hold other demonstrations out of fear of retaliation from the university.

“The First Amendment protects students’ right to protest and safeguards academic freedom,” said Nick Taichi Steiner, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Maryland. “At a time of rampant Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian rhetoric, and attacks on freedom of speech, Towson University’s administration must reverse their discipline of these students and be mindful of their First Amendment obligations to TU students as we approach the new school year.”

The letter explains that university students have a constitutional right under the First Amendment to protest on their campuses, and informal student groups may also hold protests, even if they are not recognized as a formal university club. TU’s purported justifications of not providing advance notice or not protesting in TU designated “free speech zones” on campus are not legal justifications for disciplining these students. As the Supreme Court said nearly 60 years ago: “Our Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us. . . [and] is therefore a special concern of the First Amendment. . . . To impose any strait jacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our Nation."

The letter demands that the disciplinary records of these five students be expunged. It also calls on TU officials to review its policies and make necessary changes to ensure compliance with the requirements under the First Amendment. Finally, TU administrators and law enforcement officials must be counseled on the ways in which the discipline imposed in this case was improper, so similar violations do not happen again.