To the University community:
With the dissemination of this email, effective immediately, the University is requiring that:
- The University must be notified of any protests, rallies, and demonstrations at least three full business days in advance of each event.
- All protests, rallies, and demonstrations must have a currently enrolled University of Rochester student or current University faculty or staff member in good standing to be registered as the contact for each event.
- Student organizers on record will be held responsible for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent participants from violating the Student Code of Conduct or protest policies, while students, staff, and faculty are accountable for their own actions.
- On the River Campus, the contact person must register the event with the Office of the Dean of Students and must be present at the event as a contact responsible for all activities. Contact persons for protests or demonstrations to be held near the Eastman School of Music, the School of Medicine and Dentistry, the School of Nursing, or the Eastman Institute for Oral Health must register with the appropriate dean.
- Student contacts may ask to have their names withheld from public view, but without such a contact on record, such gatherings will be dispersed.
- Failure to comply with the reasonable request of a University official can be a serious violation of the Student Code of Conduct, resulting in discipline.
As background, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has held several protests on the University of Rochester River Campus. While in many ways SJP and its organizers attempted to follow the University’s policies regarding the location of and conduct during demonstrations, the group continued to block the egress of University buildings, carried poles to support some signs, and shouted rhetoric that was unacceptable in direct defiance of a specific and reasonable request by University leadership. Such behavior cannot be allowed at our institution.
We reiterate that we affirm students’ choices to criticize Israeli or Palestinian actions or US policies toward Israel, as well as students’ choices to criticize the University’s actions, policies, and practices. Our view is that the content of the November 17 protest fell within our standards for free expression—with one important exception.
After receiving multiple reports from many in our University community that certain slogans shouted at past demonstrations felt violent and threatening, University leaders alerted SJP that their use of one specific slogan is understood by many as a call for physically harming Jewish people, all over the world, because of their religious or cultural identity. It was the interpretation of the call for physical harm—regardless of the speaker’s intent—that differentiated this particular slogan.
University leaders directed the organizers, who have remained anonymous, not to use this phrase as a call to action to the protesters prior to the protest. That reasonable request was ignored, and therefore the protest was in direct violation of the Student Code of Conduct (item 13). The demonstration leader led the chant of this specific slogan over 30 times.
The University supports demonstrations that are conducted within the time, place, and manner articulated in our policies and in compliance with the reasonable requests of University officials. We encourage peaceful conversation among members of the University community about how they are experiencing the devastating loss of Palestinian and Israeli lives, and other difficult issues that will continue to arise in our world.
Sincerely,
Sarah C. Mangelsdorf
President
Robert Witmer, Jr. University Professor
David Figlio
Provost
Gordon Fyfe Professor of Economics and Education