After last semester’s pro-Palestinian protests, students at the University of Connecticut now face new policies that could impact their ability to protest, and they’re not all happy about it.
In August, the university adopted a few new policies and revised old ones. Two would regulate what outdoor activities can include and where they can be held, along with prohibiting sound-amplifying devices during certain hours.
The outdoor activities policy permits outdoor activities on university property only when they meet certain requirements. Prohibited items and practices include weapons or weapon facsimiles, amplified or projected sound, obstructing public access, camping or encampments and luminaries that may pose a fire hazard.
The outdoor amplified and projected sound policy defines amplified and projected sound as “any sound that is electronically amplified or projected through the use of equipment such as amplifiers, speakers, DJs, megaphones, or other sound systems.”
In an email statement regarding the purpose of the policies, UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz stated that they “allow us to provide students with the educational opportunities they have been promised while respecting the free speech rights of all who live, learn, visit and work on the campuses.”
But some student organizations say the policies are intended to prevent them from protesting further.
Ashten Vassar-Cain, a graduate student and representative for the UConn Divest Coalition, said the policy changes are in response to the pro-Palestinian protests earlier this year.
“There have been substantial changes that — we feel as the UConn Divest Coalition — are not coincidental,” Vassar-Cain stated.
UConn Divest is a student-run group dedicated to pushing the university to divest research, connections and money from groups and projects involved in issues ranging from fossil fuels and decarbonization to genocide and occupation.
University priorities
Earlier this year, UConn students and demonstrators made encampments at the Storrs campus to protest the university’s support of Israel in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Police arrested 25 students and one alumnus, a group dubbed the “UConn 26.”
Student organizations like UConn Divest and UConn Unchain questioned the university’s priorities, citing instances of university president Radenka Maric’s support of Israel. In February 2022, Maric and Gov. Ned Lamont visited Israel to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.
UConn’s history in defense is nothing new. Connecticut’s top three military manufacturers — General Dynamics Electric Boat, RTX’s Pratt and Whitney and Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky — are some of the top employers of UConn graduates.
Student opinion
The university states that these policies are to ensure that students and staff are not disrupted in their education, but many students say the policies infringe on their right to free speech.
Josie Raza, a student and representative of UConn Unchain, said she was concerned about how these policies impact students.
“These new policies functionally require activists to gain prior approval from the university they want to protest,” Raza said. “We think that their heavy-handed infringement on students’ right to disagree with the actions of the school is especially concerning, given that it’s a public university.”
While the outdoor activities policy is new, the outdoor amplified and projected sound policy was created in 2002, and this revision marks 22 years of its existence. Reitz said the only new element these policies bring is that the university may “direct groups to separate areas to create distance between them in the case of adjacent vents or gatherings.”
Yet some argue these changes are significant.
“I’m skeptical of the university saying that not a lot has changed. We’ve read the policy down to the letter, and it seems a substantial amount has been changed and what we see as an attempt to repress student speech,” Vassar-Cain said.
Even though UConn said the changes were meant to clarify, Raza said the new additions create more confusion for students.
“These policy changes really affect anyone who wishes to express any kind of political dissent. But also anyone who wants to hold events in any kind of way,” Raza stated. “Any gatherings, any person standing in a space could technically be considered obstructing a public space. A group of people raising their voices can reach those decibel levels. It’s pretty unclear.”
Attempts at communication
Both students and groups report that there has been little communication or willingness to hear their concerns. Vassar-Cain said UConn Divest and collaborating groups have asked to meet with the administration.
“We were shoved aside and told that nobody there had the power to make any decisions. So, we’ve requested a meeting with President Radenka Maric. And we’re trying to get a meeting with the UConn Foundation and the board of trustees.”
“These meetings are to try and open up communication with the university to get them to hear the demands instead of reacting with enforcement first,” Vassar-Cain stated.
New policies and regulations on protests have only intensified the tensions between the UConn administration and the student body.
“It’s really disheartening to witness how little the UConn administration seems to value free speech and the expression of political dissent. I think a lot of people are understandably concerned about their ability to speak on campus now,” Raza said.
Despite the policies and rules surrounding students’ right to protest and express themselves, the student organizations are still working toward their original goals. Raza said both the UConn Divest Coalition and UConn Unchain are anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism and internationalists. They are currently focused on protesting UConn’s investment in the genocide in Gaza.
“It’s more disruptive to university business to be complicit in ongoing violence. Students are missing classes because of court dates, injuries and mourning their families who are being bombed by the Israeli military,” Vassar-Cain said.
“It seems like the only kind of disruption that they don’t allow is trying to disrupt a genocide.”