FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Ann Mullen, 313-400-8562, amullen@aclumich.org
DETROIT – The ACLU of Michigan and the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice filed a federal lawsuit today on behalf of people whom the University of Michigan (UM) has banned from its Ann Arbor campus after they participated in pro-Palestine protests on campus. The lawsuit alleges that the bans, which prohibit the plaintiffs and others from stepping foot virtually anywhere on campus under threat of criminal prosecution for trespassing, unconstitutionally punish protestors and quell their First Amendment right to free speech and their Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, which includes the rights to travel through and remain on public spaces.
Along with blocking their participation in future on-campus protests—whether about Palestine or any other issue of public concern—the bans can keep students from attending class, stop others from performing work-related duties on school property, and prevent community members from stepping foot on a vast campus that is generally open to the public, deeply integrated into the larger Ann Arbor community, and features restaurants, museums, bus stops, and other essential community institutions. It is virtually impossible to navigate much of Ann Arbor without weaving in and out of university property that is placed off-limits to those who receive the bans.
Under current UM policies, a campus police officer can issue a person a trespass ban—which they euphemistically call a “warning”—without ever having to produce evidence that the recipient violated the law or university policies. The bans can prohibit access to parts of the campus, the whole campus or, in some cases, any campus within the entire UM system. In general, the bans last a full year, but university officials have recently begun to extend some bans for even longer without explanation. Bans have been handed out to protestors based on mere accusations of extremely minor conduct, such as jaywalking or using a bullhorn after being told not to.
Those who attempt to challenge their bans (which can only be done after the ban goes into effect) face sham proceedings that lack essential due process protections, the lawsuit alleges. No evidence was presented at the plaintiffs’ hearings, and no explanation was offered; instead, the plaintiffs and others are merely given time to convince the university’s public safety department why it should amend or repeal their ban.
The lawsuit also challenges a recently adopted university policy that prohibits, with sweeping breadth, on-campus “disruptions.” Because the university has not defined what activity constitutes a “disruption,” it has intensified the chilling effect of the trespass bans by threatening even more punishment of people wishing to exercise their constitutional rights. As with the trespass bans, the lawsuit challenges the anti-disruption policy as vague and overbroad in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Loren Khogali, Executive Director of the ACLU of Michigan, said this about the lawsuit:
“As we see heightened attacks on our civil rights and liberties across the nation, the ACLU will remain vigilant in its fight to protect the rights of all people as we have for more than 100 years, including the right to speak out on university campuses and in all public spaces. The Constitution does not permit any public institution – whether it’s the White House or the University of Michigan – to crush expressions of dissent. Our lawsuit is an important measure to defend the constitutional liberties of those who wish to protest today and those whose rights will need protection tomorrow.”
Ramis J. Wadood, Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, said this about the lawsuit:
“The right to speak and protest freely is fundamental to a well-functioning democracy, and it is especially important to protect this right on our public university campuses – even when its exercise creates controversy or makes others uncomfortable. Unfortunately, in recent months police at the University of Michigan have arrested pro-Palestine protesters, forcibly cleared their encampment using pepper spray, implemented new policies prohibiting ‘disruptions,’ and are now indiscriminately banishing protesters from campus. We are suing the university to restore important free speech and due process protections to the college campus.”
Liz Jacob, Staff Attorney for the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, said this about the lawsuit:
“The University is weaponizing campus trespass bans in an attempt to target, attack, and silence the speech of protesters who bravely raise their voices in support of Palestine. The threat of effectively being barred from classes, suspended from the university, kept from working on campus or even walking the grounds constitutes an extreme attempt to quell free speech and due process rights that are protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. We believe that it is critical to bring forward this lawsuit today to put an end to the University of Michigan’s unconstitutional policies, which wrongly deny people their rights to free speech and due process.”
Plaintiff Jonathan Zou had this to say about the lawsuit:
“For the simple act of using a megaphone to direct participants in a recent on-campus protest, campus police issued me a trespass ban that barred me from not only attending classes, but from stepping foot on any property within the entire UM system. While my ban has recently been amended to finally allow me to return to class, I’m still forbidden from participating in protests and student organizing meetings, attending lectures and events, and meeting professors, classmates, and friends in person. I have a constitutional right to be on campus, go about my daily life and to participate in protests against the university. It’s absurd that my university is getting in the way of exercising my rights by threatening me with criminal trespass prosecution.”
Read the complaint in the lawsuit here.
Read the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction here.
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