Student threatened with suspension sues University of Texas for 'unlawful retaliation'

A student threatened with suspension is suing the University of Texas, UT President Jay Hartzell and former Provost Sharon Wood, claiming they violated his First Amendment rights when he was arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest on April 24.

The suit, filed Tuesday, alleges that UT "unlawfully attempted to prevent that speech" and is now trying to suspend the student and bar him from campus for three semesters pending a hearing Friday. In an additional motion filed Wednesday, the student seeks a temporary restraining order against the disciplinary hearing, which a federal judge denied Thursday afternoon.

"It's pretty evident that the university's actions targeting that demonstration were really just unambiguously unlawful," Brian McGivern, the lawyer representing the case from Austin Community Law Center, told the American-Statesman in an interview. "My hope is that the lawsuit will also deter them from blindly, unapologetically breaking the law."

More: Can Texas public universities remove protesters from campus? First Amendment experts explain

McGivern said the discipline threatened against the student is "unlawful retaliation."

Ammer Qaddumi, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, the group that organized the April 24 protest and was the first person arrested by police after a dispersal order.

"The police sought out a mediator from among the crowd to communicate directives to, and Mr. Qaddumi volunteered to fill that role. At their request, Mr. Qaddumi shared with the other demonstrators the officers’ directives to disperse," the lawsuit states.

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It describes Qaddumi addressing the crowd when they regathered on Speedway to listen to officers and communicating to officers about the challenges with dispersal when "at that moment, at approximately 12:49 p.m., he was arrested by UT Police Department officers on the accusation of criminal trespass."

Video evidence posted by the news service Al Jazeera, as well as reporter accounts, show Qaddumi helping police before a UT police officer arrested him. Fifty-six other people were arrested that day, though all criminal trespassing charges were quickly dropped "due to insufficient evidence."

Because of Senate Bill 18 , a 2019 Texas law, all university public spaces are established as traditional public forums, affording them the highest scrutiny in free speech law, McGivern said.

This conduct would not meet the standard required to allow censorship, McGivern argues, even for a university.

"The University is a state entity, and it's one of the bedrock principles of our democracy that the state cannot casually censor speech ... except in very specific situations," McGivern said. "There's no good faith argument that they can make that what they are doing is lawful, except by relying on statements of facts that are pure fiction."

More: Analysis: UT increases limits on free speech after pro-Palestinian protests, Abbott order

On April 23, the university preemptively canceled the registered student group's plans to protest due to officials' belief the demonstrators planned to break rules and disrupt the campus. Wood, whom Hartzell announced Tuesday would return to the engineering faculty starting Sept. 1 after stepping down as provost , emailed the Dean's Council early the next morning to say UT "is working to ensure this type of disruption doesn't happen." Hartzell has said he asked outside law enforcement to meet protesters, fearing the protest would break rules and disrupt campus.

The president and provost were named and sued for damages in their personal capacity due to both parties showing their involvement in prior restraint with the protest, McGivern said.

More: UT offers deferred suspension to some pro-Palestinian student protesters, one suspension

University spokesperson Mike Rosen said the university is aware of the lawsuit and will respond in court filings, but he pointed to Hartzell's comment in April that UT followed its rules and protocols and that it protects free speech that follows those rules.

"Today, our University held firm, enforcing our rules while protecting the Constitutional right to free speech. Peaceful protests within our rules are acceptable. Breaking our rules and policies and disrupting others’ ability to learn are not allowed," Hartzell wrote then. "The group that led this protest stated it was going to violate Institutional Rules. Our rules matter, and they will be enforced. Our University will not be occupied."

The lawsuit states the Palestine Solidarity Committee was not intending to break university rules, accusing the university of conflating their intentions with national groups.

Protests largely organized by chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, which the Palestine Solidarity Committee is a part of, spread across universities nationwide last spring after more than 100 protesters in an encampment were arrested at Columbia University on April 18 when demanding their institution divest from weapons manufactures contributing to Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

The UT protest was held in solidarity with others across the nation but was planned to be a gathering on the South Lawn with workshops, teach-ins and pizza, organizers said on social media. At a protest April 29 not organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee, protesters did briefly set up a surprise encampment and police arrested 79 people .

More: Seventy-nine pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after setting up encampment at UT Austin

The lawsuit heavily cites a UT Faculty Council committee report that says the university broke its rules in silencing protesters' free speech preemptively, something UT denies.

The Statesman's reporting has showed the university changed its free speech rules this summer to state off-campus police can in some instances enforce university rules, something that was not present explicitly at the time of the arrests, though police have assisted the UT police before. It also changed the rules to cite drumming as amplified sound. The April protests didn't use amplified sound but they did involve drums.

More: UT faculty panel accuses school of violating its own rules during pro-Palestinian protests

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas previously raised concerns about the disciplinary process, encouraging the university in a letter to Hartzell to treat students in a content-neutral way and to protect their free speech rights generously. At least one other student protester also faces suspension , the Statesman previously reported.

The university has said disciplinary proceedings are separate from the law, though it publicly criticized County Attorney Delia Garza for dropping criminal trespassing charges because they did not meet the highest standard of evidence that protesters broke the law.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra on Thursday denied the temporary restraining order motion sought by Qaddumi, saying "no injury currently exists," as the hearing Friday will determine whether or not Qaddumi is suspended, and the university is following due process through having a hearing, according to his order.

In his lawsuit, Qaddumi seeks compensatory and punitive damages from defendants and a permanent injunction against disciplinary proceedings.

"This (is part of) a larger phenomenon that we see today with certain leaders, very publicly, very unapologetically, breaking the law in ways that they know are illegal ... and then trying to gaslight the public or lie to the public to justify it," McGivern said. "What people should know is that they deserve better leadership."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Student threatened with suspension sues University of Texas for 'unlawful retaliation'