Utah News Dispatch
University of Utah ‘will continue to enforce the rule of law’ on pro-Palestine protests
People set up a protest encampment in support of Palestine at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
After 19 people were arrested at a pro-Palestine rally at the University of Utah on Monday night, the school reiterated it would not allow overnight camping and will continue to enforce the rule of law, while many criticized the violent reaction to what started as a peaceful protest.
According to an update from the university, police officers arrested four students and one university employee. The University of Utah Police Department will review the arrestees’ information and body camera footage to refer cases to the Salt Lake City Prosecutor’s Office and the Dean of Students.
Possible charges include trespassing, disorderly conduct and interfering with a police officer. Students could be disciplined by the Dean of Students’ Office, but that process could take months and run parallel with court cases, a university spokesperson said.
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In the aftermath, the University of Utah President Taylor Randall issued a statement arguing that while the school supported the students’ constitutional rights, establishing a camp on the university’s lawn was in violation of school policy and state law.
“At the University of Utah, you have an absolute right to express your opinion. You do not have the right to violate law or university policy. It is unlawful to set up structures or camp overnight on university property,” Randall wrote. “The University of Utah will continue to support free expression and enforce the rule of law.”
There were several attempts by the school’s administration and the academic senate to speak with the protesters, he said, to explain that the establishment of an encampment was unlawful.
He also noted that on Thursday the university is scheduled to hold its graduation ceremony and asked the community to express its views “in a dignified, peaceful, and legal manner.”
Student organizers were planning another rally at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the same spot. The university said it would pass out a flyer to demonstrators that described what would be allowed. Students can exercise their right to peacefully assemble, but couldn’t be violent, obstruct egress or operations or cause damage, according to the flyer.
Protesting Dos and Don’ts_Flyers_final_4.30.24
The statement, posted on Randall’s Instagram account, received more than 300 comments just an hour after its publication. Many of them criticized the fact that students are allowed to camp for sports events, but those who set up tents in protest were met with rubber bullets.
Others called out that while the demonstration was peaceful, it was dispersed with violence. “I have seen fraternity parties on your campus cause 10x more disruption,” a commenter said. “You should be so ashamed and embarrassed.”
Athletics-related overnight encampments, such as ESPN Game Day, have been sanctioned University of Utah events with permits, according to Rebecca Walsh, a spokesperson from the school.
“Differences from yesterday’s protest include — no protest permit filed, no university event associated,” Walsh said in an email. The campus is comparable to the grounds of the state Capitol or a city park, she added, which close at dusk.
The university has allowed erecting structures — such as tents — on campus with a permit since the 1980s, after students installed shanties in an anti-Apartheid protest.
“The purpose of the structures under that policy is to ‘express their view and opinions,’ not just as a means of occupying space and setting up a camp to sleep overnight. The shanties were part of the message,” she said
People set up a protest encampment in support of Palestine at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Regarding potential charges, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said the office is “monitoring the situation on the University of Utah campus. We have not yet had anything submitted to our office related to last night’s protest and arrests.”
Any class A misdemeanors or felonies would be handled by Gill’s office, a spokesman said — lower charges, like class B or C misdemeanors, are typically handled by Salt Lake City prosecutors. The office said it was still too early to tell how the county will handle the arrested protesters, the majority of whom were not University of Utah students.
Though charges have not been filed yet, affidavits from University of Utah Police submitted on Tuesday morning list a number of alleged offenses by protesters — they include class A misdemeanors like failing to stop at the command of law enforcement, and lower-level offenses like failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass upon an institution of higher learning.
The probable cause statement detailing one protester’s arrest describes him being shot with a 40mm marker munition, a less lethal weapon to disperse protests which released pyrotechnic smoke to mark the demonstrator, after he “was seen attempting to pick up (an) object from the ground to throw at police.”
The protester was arrested for investigation of five misdemeanors and one infraction after he was tackled on the sidewalk and placed in handcuffs.
Police face off with students at the University of Utah protesting in support of Palestine on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch)
According to a midnight update from the university’s Department of Public Safety, final exams continued on Tuesday. Utah Transit Authority buses and campus shuttles are in operation, as well as its hospitals and clinics.
Hundreds of students gathered at the university’s Presidents Circle on Monday at around 4 p.m. Hours later, some of them installed tents and stocked up on supplies to remain in place until university officials took action on their demand to cut ties with anyone with connections to Israel and its war with Gaza.
The demonstration remained peaceful and often relatively quiet most of the afternoon, until the sun set and hundreds of officers, as University of Utah Police — working in collaboration with Salt Lake City Police, Unified Police, Utah Highway Patrol and West Valley City Police, most in riot gear — warned that protesters would face criminal consequences in they kept the structures overnight.
Officers dragged or carried some of the protesters out of the encampment before arresting them, used force to tear down some of the dozen tents installed on campus, and a few students took the rest of them down before leaving the tense scene.
By 12:20 a.m. only about a dozen students, pushed outside of the lawn and off university property onto 1300 East, remained on site and officers left the scene.
Walsh said officers pushed the students off campus, even after the tents were dismantled, because once the protest was declared an unlawful gathering, police made the decision to clear the space to prevent another encampment.
“At that point — 11 p.m. — campus was closed. Officers continued to advance west to make certain no one returned to set up the tents again,” the U. spokesperson said.
The police forces removed about a dozen tents, stashes of water bottles, food and toilet paper. No protesters were reported to be injured, a statement from the school said. Two officers were injured, though no details about their injuries were provided, and one hatchet was confiscated.
“Utah college campuses around the state are not exempt from the significant unrest that currently exists in our country and world,” said Keith Squires, University of Utah chief safety officer in a statement at 1:50 a.m. on Tuesday. “Campuses serve as a stage and forum for not just students, but for members of the community who want their voice to be heard. We honor all voices, but the right to speech on our campus must occur within the confines of state law and campus policies.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah urged the school and the state to respect the demonstrators’ First Amendment rights and their safety as, they said, “protest is a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy.” Limiting that would severely affect free speech rights on every issue.
“Last night’s police response to the peaceful demonstration at the University of Utah risked the safety and well-being of those directly involved as well as those in the area,” the organization wrote. “While authorities may enforce state laws and campus policies, we are gravely concerned that campuses and law enforcement nationwide are increasingly cracking down on political expression, rushing in police to arrest protestors, and authorizing aggressive treatment.”
People set up a protest encampment in support of Palestine at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
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