UConn updates campus activities policy to ban encampments after disruptive anti-Israel protests
The University of Connecticut (UConn) recently revised a set of campus activities policies, which include updates to the university’s rules on campus protests.
Among other updates, the policy expressly bans students from erecting encampments on university property.
The scale of anti-Israel protests during the past academic year have prompted one school in Storrs, Connecticut to amend its free speech policies in an effort to bolster campus safety.
The University of Connecticut (UConn) recently revised a set of campus activities policies, which include updates to the university’s rules on campus protests. Among other updates, the policy expressly bans students from erecting encampments on university property.
In a statement given to Campus Reform, UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz stated that the policy changes do not include any “new” policies. Rather, “they comprised updates, reminders, and clarifications of previously established policies,” adding that “the only expressly ‘new’ element is that in the instance of multiple gatherings/events, UConn may direct them to create physical separation between them and ask that they move to another location.”
The updated rules place an express emphasis on the importance of complying with instructions from both university officials and members of law enforcement, noting that students and faculty who fail to comply may be subject to severe consequences.
“No outdoor activity is permitted to disrupt another outdoor activity. To minimize/avoid disruption, University officials may direct one or more outdoor activities to relocate,” the policy reads. “Failure to comply with this or other directives will be considered a violation of University policies and subject to sanctions. Failure to comply may also be subject to law enforcement action, including criminal penalties.”
The policy also prohibits “blocking access to public spaces or hindering anyone’s ability to enter or exit an area. A clear path of ingress and egress must always be maintained at all building entrances and exits, ADA ramps, stairs, and walkways, as well as for emergency vehicles.”
A number of anti-Israel protesters have spoken out against the policy update, going so far as to arrange meetings with school administrators to discuss potential revisions. Among these critics is Ashten Vassar-Cain, a graduate student at UConn and member of the school’s Divestment Coalition, who expressed concern that the updated rules give the university too much leeway in determining what does and does not constitute a policy violation.
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“I think that the main point of these policy revisions and updates is that it makes everything more vague. So more actions that may not have amounted to policy violations in the past can now be prosecuted as policy violations with the explicit language of involvement of law enforcement,” Vassar-Cain said, according to the Connecticut Post. “We see that as an escalation against activists.”
Vassar-Cain also stated that the policy “is effectively banning counter-protesting. And, of course, the definition of ‘disruptive’ is subjective.”
In April, nearly 300 UConn students established an encampment on campus to protest the school’s support for Israel’s “genocide” against Palestinians.