20,000 signatures reached
To: Department of Homeland Security, College Administrations
Protect students' right to protest!
In the past couple of weeks, we’ve witnessed the arrests and violence against students who are exercising their First Amendment right to protest against college and university support for the Israeli government’s assault on Gaza.
The First Amendment protects freedom of speech and freedom of assembly—and for generations, students at campuses have protested and changed the course of history. The violence by police and academic administrators against peaceful protesters on campuses is shameful and wrong, and ensuring students have the literal and metaphorical space to make their opinions known is not a crime.
Violence against students must end. Full stop.
Why is this important?
University administrators must take steps to protect students exercising their right to peacefully protest. Calling the police or the National Guard to attack them is unacceptable. Leaders across the nation should be working to de-escalate tensions and engage with student demands in good faith, rather than attempting to shut them down with violence.
Antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, or Islamophobic language and actions have no place at these protests or anywhere else on campuses or in society. And we condemn them in the strongest terms possible. All people deserve to feel safe in their communities, and police shooting rubber bullets and arresting students and faculty while targeting peaceful protesters with riot gear isn’t a safe environment for anyone and harkens back to some of the darkest parts of our history.
We all have a constitutional right to peacefully protest and organize without fear of retribution or violence.