The University of Maryland, College Park student government unanimously passed two resolutions hostile towards Israel on Wednesday night, including one that called for the school to ban members of the Israel Defense Forces from speaking on campus. 

The resolution, targeting Israelis, called for the university to prohibit people who are “committing war crimes” and “genocide” from speaking on campus. 

It came as a response to an event hosted by the campus chapter of Students Supporting Israel on Oct. 21 featuring former IDF soldiers who spoke to students about their experiences serving during Israel’s war with Hamas. 

During the event, protesters packed the outside hallway shouting “baby killers” and “IOF [Israel “Occupation” Forces] off our campus,” while several others protested from outside of the building with chants comparing the IDF to the Ku Klux Klan, the university’s student-run Jewish newspaper, The Mitzpeh, reported. 

The second resolution called on the university to issue an apology to students who faced disciplinary action for protesting that event. The resolution stated that “two student journalists were wrongfully detained by the University of Maryland Police Department for over an hour while attempting to document the event.” At the time, UMPD said in a statement that the student journalists refused to provide identification or credentials. 

Both resolutions passed 25-0, with one abstention. 

UMD has one of the largest Jewish student populations in the country — nearly 20% of the College Park undergraduate student body of more than 30,000 students is Jewish, according to Hillel International. But there are “very few” Jewish students remaining in student government, junior criminology and criminal justice major Meirav Solomon told Jewish Insider.

Solomon was removed as a student government member in 2023 after being put on a “blacklist” of students who she said were accused of “not believing in human rights.” She told The Mitzpeh at the time that the list profiled candidates with “Jewish-sounding names,” and most students denounced by the document had never voiced a public opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The current student government is mostly composed of Students for Justice in Palestine members, or people who support the group, Solomon said. 

The latest resolutions follow the passing of a separate resolution — voted on at the start of Yom Kippur — calling on the university and its charitable foundation to implement a boycott of companies and academic institutions with ties to “Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation.”

“Jewish students on campus are already feeling very unsafe,” said Solomon. “But these resolutions have the most shocking language I’ve seen. This is extreme language and doubles down on making Jewish students feel that they don’t have a voice in student government.”

When the BDS vote was announced in October, UMD President Darryll Pines told the university’s newspaper, The Diamondback, that the university supports SGA’s right to debate the issue. But he added that the university wants to ensure the process is “open and fair and has dialogue from all parties of our broad student body.” 

“Resolutions voted on by the Student Government Association are student-led and reflect perspectives of voting members of the SGA,” a university spokesperson told JI at the time of the BDS resolution vote. “They have no bearing on university policy or practice.” 

This story was updated on Thursday to reflect the outcome of the vote.

The University of Maryland Student Government Association is set to consider a resolution at the start of Yom Kippur on Wednesday evening calling on the university and its charitable foundation to implement a boycott of companies and academic institutions with ties to “Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation.”

The final vote “was first set for Rosh Hashanah and now moved to Yom Kippur,” Leo Terrell,  who leads the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force, wrote on X. Terrell criticized UMD’s student government for “intentionally picking the holiest days of the year for Jews in order to force them to choose between defending their Zionist identities or observing their religion.” 

UMD has one of the largest Jewish student populations in the country — nearly 20% of the College Park undergraduate student body of more than 30,000 students is Jewish, according to Hillel International.  

When the vote was announced, UMD President Darryll Pines told the university’s newspaper, The Diamondback, that the university supports SGA’s right to debate the issue. But he added that the university wants to ensure the process is “open and fair and has dialogue from all parties of our broad student body.” 

“Resolutions voted on by the Student Government Association are student-led and reflect perspectives of voting members of the SGA,” a university spokesperson told Jewish Insider. “They have no bearing on university policy or practice.” 

Still, Jewish leaders on-campus expressed concern about the vote’s impact on campus climate for Jewish students — especially as it’s being held on a Jewish holiday.   

“Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people, a time of introspection when our students are fasting, and attending prayer services with their community. Holding a vote that seeks to demonize the Jewish homeland on a day when Jewish students will not be able to participate is exclusionary, biased and flat-out wrong,” Rabbi Ari Israel, executive director of UMD Hillel, told JI. 

“I am deeply disappointed that SGA decided to hold a BDS vote on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people,” Einav Tsach, a senior studying journalism and business who formerly led Mishelanu, an on-campus Israeli-American cultural association, told JI. “This strategy underscores the true intention of the BDS campaign: to divide our campus community and exclude Jewish students from a vote that is biased and wrong.”

If the resolution passes, the student government would urge the university and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation to implement boycott, divestment and sanctions policies against companies and institutions “complicit in the oppression of Palestinians.” 

The resolution mentions Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin as two companies that provide infrastructure used by Israel. The association would also call on the university to implement a process for student oversight on investments and partnerships to ensure it isn’t “complicit in violations of international law and human rights, including those perpetrated against the Palestinian people.”

UMD’s student government voted in support of divestment in a campuswide referendum in April, at which time the university responded that it would not divest from Israel. Other divestment resolutions fell short of advancing in 2017, 2019 and 2024. 

The University of Maryland hasn’t faced the same levels of antisemitism that have occurred on many elite campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel. 

However, the university faced controversy last year when it granted Students for Justice in Palestine a permit to hold a demonstration on the campus’ central McKeldin Mall on the first anniversary of the attacks, prompting swift backlash from campus groups including Hillel and the Jewish Student Union. 

After the university canceled the protest, SJP filed a lawsuit stating that its First Amendment rights had been violated. A federal judge wrote in an opinion that the group “has demonstrated a substantial likelihood that it will prevail [in its lawsuit] on the merits of its freedom of speech claim.” 

The university reversed its decision and allowed the demonstration to take place, but the lawsuit moved forward. In August, the University of Maryland and Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown asked the state to approve their joint request to settle the First Amendment lawsuit for $100,000 paid to the plaintiffs. 

The University of Maryland, College Park and Maryland’s attorney general have asked the state to approve their joint request to settle a First Amendment lawsuit brought by the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.

The request to settle the case, which was not previously publicly available information, was revealed in a memo detailing the agenda for an impending meeting of the Maryland Board of Public Works, which oversees matters impacting the state university system. The university’s settlement, according to the agenda posted to BPW’s website ahead of a Wednesday board meeting, would provide $100,000 to defendants through the CAIR Legal Defense Fund, an arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. 

“The University of Maryland College Park and the Office of the Attorney General recommend paying $100,000 to settle all claims, including attorneys’ fees, as in the best interest of the State,” the memo reads. 

The University of Maryland declined to comment to Jewish Insider about its request to settle and Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown did not respond to JI’s request for comment.

On behalf of UMD SJP, CAIR and Palestine Legal filed a lawsuit against the university’s College Park campus last September alleging a violation of the students’ free speech after UMD President Darryll Pines announced that the school had canceled an SJP-sponsored anti-Israel rally slated for the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. 

UMD initially granted SJP a permit last August to hold the Oct. 7 demonstration on the campus’ central McKeldin Mall, prompting swift backlash and calls from campus groups including Hillel and the Jewish Student Union — and from former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who was running for the Senate at the time — for the school to reverse course. 

After the university canceled the protest, SJP filed a lawsuit stating that its First Amendment rights had been violated and a federal judge wrote in an opinion that the group “has demonstrated a substantial likelihood that it will prevail [in its lawsuit] on the merits of its freedom of speech claim.” The university then backtracked a second time and ultimately allowed the demonstration to take place, but the lawsuit moved forward. 

Pines said at the time that the initial decision to cancel the event — and all events scheduled for Oct. 7, other than university sponsored ones — was made following a “safety assessment,” which, he added, did not identify any threats to the campus. 

Einav Tsach, a rising senior studying journalism and business, told JI that amid turmoil around the SJP demonstration, Jewish students still “came together as a strong, vibrant Jewish campus community to mark the one-year anniversary of the horrors perpetrated by Hamas.” 

As the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks approaches this fall, Tsach, the former leader of  Mishelanu, an on-campus Israeli-American cultural association, said that Jewish UMD students “remain focused on marking this solemn day in the most meaningful way possible.”

Other than the controversy around last year’s demonstration, UMD, which has one of the largest Jewish student populations in the country — nearly 20% of the College Park undergraduate student body of more than 30,000 is Jewish — has largely avoided egregious incidents of antisemitism that have occurred on other college campuses. 

The University of Maryland chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine can proceed with a campus demonstration on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel, after a federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the group “has demonstrated a substantial likelihood that it will prevail [in its lawsuit] on the merits of its freedom of speech claim.”

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte came after the university, which had initially OK’d the rally, reversed course last month and canceled it, prompting the SJP lawsuit stating that its First Amendment rights had been violated.

In a statement, UMD, which has one of the largest Jewish student populations in the country — nearly 20% of the College Park undergraduate student body of more than 30,000 is Jewish — said that it “recognizes, and will abide by, the court’s decision, and will work with all registered student organizers of events requested for October 7.”

The statement continued, “Event organizers, campus officials and UMPD will implement a plan that allows all events to proceed in accordance with the court’s ruling. Notwithstanding today’s court ruling, the safety concerns that were raised remain a source of ongoing attention and focus for us.”

UMD said that in compliance with the court’s decision, “we will now move forward with the events, addressing those concerns and challenges with care and caution, including the implementation of a robust safety plan. This includes enhanced staffing and resources with a strong security presence.” 

SJP told the Washington Post that it will go ahead with Monday’s demonstration, with a member of the group saying they were “relieved to have the chance to actually put on this event.” In July, the UMD chapter of SJP said that it “unequivocally states that the Zionist state of Israel has no right to exist.” In a separate social media post the group said that it “openly supports armed struggle.” 

Ari Israel, executive director of UMD Hillel, told Jewish Insider on Tuesday that he is “deeply disappointed that SJP will hold an event on the university’s largest convening space on Oct. 7, the one-year mark of the largest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.” 

“We will not let this setback interfere with our plans to commemorate Oct. 7,” Israel said, noting that student leaders are finalizing plans to organize education and awareness events on campus during the day, including setting up a square to honor the 101 hostages that remain in Hamas captivity. In the evening, Israel said the “College Park mishpacha” will gather at the Hillel center. He added that Hillel is working closely with UMPD. “Now, more than ever,” Israel continued, “we will come together as a community to support our Jewish students at UMD, and the strength, courage and resilience they have displayed over the past 12 months.” 

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also condemned the court’s decision “allowing the protest to proceed,” he said in a statement to JI. Moore said that while he “deeply respect[s] the rule of law and due process, I think Oct. 7 is an inappropriate date for such an event.” 

Moore added that the state of Maryland will work with “local and university leaders to ensure” the safety of students. 

“We know that what happens around the world has direct implications on the Maryland community,” Moore continued. “I’ve been clear — everyone in Maryland has the right to peacefully protest, to voice their opinions. But no one has the right to call for violence against each other. Terrorists target civilians, and that’s what Hamas did a year ago on Oct 7. And that’s what that day should be remembered as — a heinous terrorist attack on Israel that took innocent lives.” 

The lawsuit, jointly filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Palestine Legal on behalf of UMD SJP on Sept. 17, came as a response to the university reversing course last month on its initial allowance of Oct. 7 events on campus. At the time, the UMD President Darryll Pines wrote in a university-wide letter that the decision was made following a “safety assessment.” 

UMD originally granted SJP a permit in August to hold the Oct. 7 demonstration on the campus’s central McKeldin Mall, prompting swift backlash and calls from campus groups including Hillel and the Jewish Student Union — and from former Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, who is running for the Senate — for the school to reverse course. After the decision was reversed, several local lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) supported the university’s decision to “preserve this day as a day of reflection.” 

On Tuesday, asked about his reaction to the court decision, Van Hollen did not address the question in a statement to JI. “October 7th was one of the darkest days in our recent history — it is a day for solemn reflection, mourning the lives lost, and remembering the hostages seized,” Van Hollen said. 

Hogan told JI that it is “unacceptable that Jewish students still feel unsafe and face antisemitism on their own campuses.” 

“That’s why I immediately spoke out against this disgraceful anti-Israel event, and I will continue to stand in solidarity with the UMD Jewish community,” he said. 

Angela Alsobrooks, Hogan’s Democratic opponent in the Senate race, said in a separate statement to JI that it is her “understanding that the university considered the safety of its students in its initial decision.”

“And as I stated then, I agreed with that decision,” Alsobrooks said. “Oct. 7 is a solemn day. To have it as a day of remembrance, I think, is important. I know too that the right to protest is foundational to our nation and that right must be protected. And it is my hope that given this court’s decision, any such protests will be conducted peacefully.”

Following pressure from Jewish groups at the University of Maryland, the administration reversed course on Sunday and canceled an anti-Israel rally slated for the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. 

But the policy reversal was met with mixed reactions from Jewish leaders on the College Park campus, who simultaneously applauded the decision while also “requesting a more complete response” from the university — especially a better understanding of “how to identify antisemitism.”  

UMD initially granted the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) a permit last month to hold the Oct. 7 demonstration on the campus’s central McKeldin Mall, prompting swift backlash and calls from campus groups including Hillel and the Jewish Student Union — and from former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who’s running for the Senate — for the school to reverse course. 

On Sunday, in a letter from university President Darryll Pines, the university announced it had canceled the event. Pines wrote that the decision was made following a “safety assessment,” which, he added, did not identify any threats to the campus. He did not, however, specifically address the Jewish community, which has faced unprecedented levels of antisemitism on college campuses nationwide — often related to SJP demonstrations — since Oct. 7.  

“Given the overwhelming outreach, from multiple perspectives, I requested a routine targeted safety assessment for this day to understand the risks and safety measures associated with planned events,” Pines wrote. “UMPD [University of Maryland Police Department] has assured me that there is no immediate or active threat to prompt this assessment, but the assessment is a prudent and preventive measure that will assist us to keep our safety at the forefront.”

“Jointly, out of an abundance of caution, we concluded to host only university-sponsored events that promote reflection on this day,” he continued, adding that “all other expressive events” will be held prior to Oct. 7 and permitted to continue on Oct. 8. 

The decision from Pines came following a letter, signed by tens of thousands of members and allies of the broader University of Maryland Jewish community, co-authored by Gilad Chen, an associate dean for research in UMD’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, and a parent of a sophomore at the university. On Monday, Chen co-penned a follow-up letter, addressed to Pines and Chancellor Jay Perman, expressing several concerns regarding the statement that canceled the SJP event.

“While we were relieved to learn yesterday that UMD will not allow SJP to rally on our campus on October 7, we respectfully request a more complete response to our letter from last Friday,” Chen wrote. The letter goes on to claim that Pines’ statement shows an “apparent lack of understanding by UMD regarding Jewish identity and how to identify antisemitism.” 

The letter also states that UMD is lacking in “clear guidelines for the UMD community at large as to what actions and speech contribute to a hostile environment for the Jewish community on campus,” as well as “enforceable policies and procedures for protecting the Jewish community from hate and a hostile environment on the UMD campus.” 

Chen told Jewish Insider that because the cancellation states that no events — other than university-sponsored ones — can occur on Oct. 7, it sets a standard that there is “a comparison between the Jewish organizations gathering to mark Oct. 7 and an SJP rally.” 

In a joint statement, Maryland Hillel and the Jewish Student Union echoed that “only university-sponsored events will occur on Oct. 7,” calling that decision “not an ideal situation,” but also noting that “it ensures that our physical and psychological safety is protected on this day of grief.” It has not been announced whether the university will hold its own event to mark Oct. 7, but Hillel on campus said it plans to hold an event to memorialize “the atrocities of Oct. 7.” 

Despite criticism that Pines’ language did not convey the magnitude of trauma that Oct. 7 — and the subsequent rise of antisemitism — has caused for Jewish students, Maryland Hillel and JSU, as well as Maryland elected officials, commended the restriction of anti-Israel events held on Oct. 7.

“We are reassured to learn that SJP will no longer be permitted to host their event on McKeldin Mall, or anywhere, on campus, on Oct. 7,” the groups wrote in a joint statement. 

Hogan, a Republican, wrote on X that “university officials are right to reverse their inexplicable decision to allow a major anti-Israel protest on October 7th. Antisemitic bigotry has no place in our state, and especially on our college campuses.” 

Hogan, who was the first Maryland leader to release a statement urging for the Oct. 7 event to be called off, called for “more to be done to ensure Jewish students can feel safe on their own campuses.” 

“Hogan will never hesitate to call out antisemitic hate and that’s why he condemned the despicable protest scheduled for Oct. 7,” Blake Kernen, a spokesperson for Hogan’s Senate campaign, told JI.

Angela Alsobrooks, Hogan’s Democratic opponent in the Senate race, initially didn’t provide a comment when JI reached out to her spokesperson. 

After the story’s publication, the Alsobrooks spokesperson reached out to JI with a statement in support of UMD’s decision to cancel the anti-Israel protest.

“I’m the mother of a 19-year-old daughter, so I can tell you that I agree with the parents and families who want nothing more than for all of our kids to be safe on college campuses; to feel safe and to actually be safe,” Alsobrooks said in the statement. “I know the University considered the safety of its students in its decision. I do agree with the decision. I think that October 7 is a solemn day. To have it as a day of remembrance, I think, is important.”

“I know too that the right to protest is foundational to our nation and that right must be protected. But I am unequivocal that any such protest must not call for violence or target any groups of people. Full stop,” she added.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, in a statement to JI, said that “everyone in Maryland has the right to peacefully protest, to voice their opinions, but not to call for violence against each other and it is my expectation that any demonstration at the University of Maryland follows that very ideal.”

“I’ve led soldiers in combat. I’ve seen not just the direct impacts of terrorism, but also the collateral damage it leaves. Terrorists target civilians, and that’s what Hamas did on October 7th. And, that’s what that day should be remembered as, a terrorist attack that took innocent lives.” 

Moore continued, “If you stand with Israel, you stand against Hamas. And if you stand with the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination, you stand against Hamas too. We must strive to achieve a permanent cease-fire that brings home the hostages, that ends the suffering of innocent Palestinian civilians, and leads to a permanent peace.” 

In a statement to JI, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said: “October 7th marks one of the darkest days in our recent history — we must never forget the lives that were taken and the hostages seized by the brutal Hamas terrorist attacks. I support the University of Maryland’s decision to preserve this day as a day of reflection. We must immediately bring home the hostages and end this war.”

With one of the largest Jewish student populations in the country — nearly 20% of the College Park undergraduate student body of more than 30,000 is Jewish — UMD has largely avoided egregious episodes of antisemitism that have occurred on many campuses. But Einav Tsach, a junior studying journalism and marketing who leads Mishelanu, an on-campus Israeli-American cultural association, told JI that in recent months, “SJP has taken on a larger and more noticeable presence and that is impacting Jewish students.” 

On Monday, SJP UMD wrote on Instagram that it will still “find ways to honor the martyrs of this genocide and mark one year of resistance” on Oct. 7. 

“They’ve worsened their rhetoric in the past year,” Tsach continued, pointing to the group’s July statement that it “unequivocally states that the Zionist state of Israel has no right to exist,” and another social media post that “openly supports armed struggle.” 

“Those are things that are very alienating to Jewish students,” Tsach said, adding that he is “thankful for the direct outcome of the letter, which is that SJP cannot hold a rally on a day of immense suffering for the Jewish people.” 

While Tsach said he hoped Pines’ letter would “get more into the specifics of what happened on Oct. 7 and reassure that it’s a day of mourning,” at the same time the university has “made every effort to hear from us and be in touch with us, with Pines attending our vigil on Oct. 9 last year.”

At last month’s Honors Convocation at the University of Michigan, one of the first events of the school’s spring graduation festivities, President Santa Ono — dressed in full academic regalia — stepped up to the stage to address the university’s soon-to-be graduates.

Almost immediately, a chorus of boos broke out. Several dozen students rose, holding signs that read “Free Palestine” and “Ceasefire Now.” Ono was at the lectern for less than two minutes before he sat down, unable to continue speaking over the students’ shouting. The ceremony ended abruptly, and early. 

The event highlights the challenge universities face as they prepare for the prospect of anti-Israel protests at university graduations across the country this spring. While the frequency of protests has diminished since last fall, fallout over the Israel-Hamas war continues to roil U.S. campuses. That university administrators have responded to protests that violate campus policies, such as the one at Michigan, with inconsistent enforcement of university codes of conduct raises questions about how they will handle similarly disruptive actions at graduation events. 

Although no protests have been announced yet, some campus activists are already calling on pro-Palestinian supporters to wear keffiyehs and bring Palestinian flags to graduation. But whether graduating students are willing to disrupt graduation ceremonies to make a political statement, as they did at Michigan — and risk being kicked out of the event — remains to be seen. 

“There’s a rich, long tradition of students especially, but sometimes guests, engaging in protests in commencement exercises,” said Mark Rotenberg, vice president for university initiatives and general counsel at Hillel International, which has been advising university administrators about heading off disruptive protests.

Usually, students who want to make a point at graduation do so silently. Often, they write a political message on their cap or turn their backs to object to a particular speaker. Sometimes they hold up signs, such as last year at Howard University, where 12 students silently protested President Joe Biden’s address with posters that said things like, “Biden and [Vice President Kamala] Harris don’t care about Black people.”

Occasionally, they even stage a silent walkout, such as students at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., last year who protested Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who delivered the commencement address. The phenomenon is widespread enough that, in 2014, CNN published an op-ed about “the smarter way to protest college speakers,” after three universities reversed course and changed their commencement speakers to respond to student backlash.

Many schools have not yet named commencement speakers for their 2024 graduations. But so far, it appears that prominent universities are choosing not to tap political or controversial speakers to deliver the commencement address.

“You just see people invite the most bland, noncontroversial, I guess, or non-political speakers out there. People like Donald Trump, or Joe Biden, or other controversial figures don’t really get invited anymore to these events,” said Zach Greenberg, senior program officer at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Notre Dame students walked out during former Vice President Mike Pence’s speech in 2017. (The White House and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment asking if Biden, Harris, Secretary of State Tony Blinken or other senior administration officials had been invited to deliver any commencement addresses this year.)

There’s also a possibility that graduation speakers — either invited guests or student speakers who were selected by the university — may decide to use the opportunity to make a political point. Recent student speakers at the City University of New York’s law school graduation condemned Zionism in their speeches. The university responded by entirely eliminating student speakers from its official commencement events. (A CUNY spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about its plans for graduation this year.)

“Many universities will say to the student speakers who are invited to speak at commencement, ‘You’re not supposed to speak about controversial political topics in your speech,’” said Rotenberg, a former general counsel at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Minnesota. “They’ll say that because the intention of the event, the purpose of your being invited to speak, is not to offer your own personal views on politics but to celebrate the graduation of your peers.” That doesn’t mean the students always listen. 

“The real concern,” Rotenberg added, “is that there will be disruptions so that a congressman, for example, can’t give his speech, or an honorary degree recipient cannot receive their degree, because they are tenured at an Israeli institution of higher education, or that other Israelis in attendance will be badgered, harassed or even attacked.” 

In recent months, university enforcement of policies regarding disruptive protests that attempt to shut down speakers has been lackluster and uneven. While speaking at the University of Maryland, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) was shouted down by hecklers who called him “complicit in genocide.” 

“What you saw play out actually was democracy and free speech and academic freedom,” UMD President Darryll Pines, who attended the event and made the decision to shut it down, said later. When asked whether vocal protestors would also be allowed to disrupt the school’s graduation ceremonies, a university spokesperson shared a link to a Monday email from the school’s general counsel outlining UMD’s free expression policy. 

“No person may intentionally and substantially interfere with the lawful freedom of expression of others,” the email said. The spokesperson did not say whether the actions of the students who shouted down Raskin violated the code of conduct, and if similar activities would be tolerated at graduation. 

When reached for comment, several prominent universities directed Jewish Insider to their schools’ codes of conduct. All of them agreed that disruptive protests are not permitted at graduation, although they declined to share specifics about their plans for any potential disruptions, citing security concerns.

“We are well aware there is a possibility of disruption,” said Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor for executive communications at the University of California, Berkeley. “There is a distinct line and difference between nonviolent protest that does not interfere with the rights of others — including the right to participate in and/or attend a graduation ceremony — and impermissible actions that violate the rights of others.” 

The University of Virginia plans to have “designated areas outside the ticketed event space for protest activity to occur during official ceremonies,” a university spokesperson said. Official events and ceremonies are ticketed. “Protest activity must not block access to the event or use amplified sound.”

Graduation ceremonies are usually the biggest events that universities organize each year, and the culmination of students’ experiences on campus. Dignitaries — politicians, trustees, donors, prominent alumni — are in attendance, putting the schools under more intense scrutiny. That’s a big difference from student-run events where security protocols might be unclear, or where administrators may choose not to enforce campus rules.

“They’re not really prepared for addressing heckler’s vetoes and event disruptions,” said FIRE’s Greenberg. “For commencement, it’s a very well-planned large event and universities take great pains to ensure it goes smoothly. So I think because of the preparation, because due to the large police presence there and just the sheer number of people, any disruption to the event, whether it’s the speaker or to the audience, tends to be addressed pretty quickly.” 

Chris Booker, director of media and public relations at The Ohio State University, said the large number of attendees at graduations means “there is always a potential for a disruption. It has always been a part of the university’s standard comprehensive preparedness plan to employ heightened safety, security, and crowd and audience management measures for commencement.” 

Citing new campus policies announced in January to combat antisemitism, a spokesperson for American University asserted that indoor protests are not allowed on campus. “This includes commencement,” said Matthew Bennett, vice president and chief communications officer. “Violations of the directives or other university policies are subject to disciplinary action.”

Stacy Wagner, a University of Colorado Boulder spokesperson, said that “interference, obstruction, or disruption of CU Boulder activity” are violations of the student code of conduct. “Any student found responsible for violating the Student Code of Conduct will be subject to appropriate sanctions.” 

Neither Bennett, Wagner or the other university administrators contacted by JI shared how violations would be handled, and what “disciplinary action” might entail. 

Universities “sometimes are a little squeamish,” Rotenberg pointed out, “about being completely candid about what are the consequences for violating these rules.”