After 16 people were arrested Monday, Apr. 29 on trespassing charges when they set a campsite to protest Israel’s invasion of the Palestinian controlled Gaza Strip, smaller protests continued throughout the week at the Arch and the Tate Center, one of UGA’s designated “free speech zones.”
No more arrests were made as of press time, but at least some of the nine students who had been arrested also face suspension under an unusual process known as “interim suspension,” where a student can be suspended before facing a formal hearing. Although their professors worked with them to complete finals, the interim suspensions called into question seniors’ ability to walk during commencement because they are barred from campus.
A letter signed by 183 faculty members called UGA’s treatment of those students overreach and urged administrators to lift the suspensions.
“Regardless of differing viewpoints regarding the content and methods of Monday’s protest, we strongly feel that the decision to suspend the students and bar them from campus prior to any conduct hearing is disproportionate and not in keeping with due process,” said the letter, written by professors Janet Frick, Rumya Putcha, Sujata Iyengar and Miriam Jacobson.
Republican politicians took a different view. State Rep. Houston Gaines (R-Athens) thanked law enforcement for dispersing the “antisemitic encampment.”
“Those kinds of people, if they break the law, if they spit in officers’ faces like we’ve seen, they’re going to have a pretty bad day, and they will be put in jail,” Gov. Brian Kemp said, adding that he supports the suspensions.
The Athens-Clarke County Democratic Committee signed onto a UGA Young Democrats statement calling on the university to end the suspensions and drop the charges, accusing UGA of violating protesters’ First Amendment rights.
“Law enforcement should not be used to silence peaceful protests,” the group said in a statement that also condemned antisemitism. “…[W]e believe that student protests are a vital part of university life and should not be hampered by the administration—but instead should be encouraged.”
The week of protests culminated Friday with a march to Athens City Hall, where activists for months have been trying unsuccessfully to convince the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
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