The aftermath of arresting 21 students, faculty, community members

As assistant art history professor Ali Asgar Alibhai exited the BAHT building on May 1, 2024, after a lecture, he did not expect to see a line of police bearing weapons and riot gear facing off against a crowd of student protesters in an encampment. As the cops advanced, Alibhai placed himself between them and the encampment, shouting to leave the students alone and that they were “just kids.” A few minutes later, Alibhai was violently apprehended, handcuffed and arrested for criminal trespass along with two other professors, nine students and nine community members and alumni. Despite being arrested in Dallas County, the 21 arrestees were brought to Collin County Jail, a more conservative jurisdiction.

Police had destroyed and disbanded the encampment by the time they left with the “UTD 21.” But for the 12 hours the student encampment existed, sprawling across Chess Plaza, it was peaceful and amicable. Students filtered in and out, faculty brought books and led teach-ins, students studied for finals and organizers supplied food and water for attendees. The overwhelming police response called in to disband the encampment — over 60 different officers from a confirmed five different departments including the Texas Department of Public Safety — was viewed by the UTD community as an unnecessary use of force. With 14 of the 21 arrestees indicted as of publication — meaning they will be prosecuted — and the subsequent arrests of three students who protested for Palestine at their graduations in the year since, political activism on campus has been chilled.

Since May 1, political activity and protest attendance at UTD has dropped sharply. UTD went from having monthly protests organized primarily by the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at UTD to more infrequent semesterly protests. The university has debuted more restrictive policies about what activities are permitted as part of free speech on campus, including a ban on tents and barricades and drawing with chalk on campus. State laws like SB 2972, which prohibits expressive activities between 10 p.m. and 8.a.m., further contribute to the smothering effect. Organizations such as the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression have given UTD’s free speech and protest policies the lowest possible overall ranking in terms of how they protect civil liberties and enforce policy, and actions like the removal of the Spirit Rocks and mass firing of The Mercury prompted FIRE to publicly criticize UTD. 

Organizations such as the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression have given UTD’s free speech and protest policies the lowest possible overall ranking in terms of how they protect civil liberties and enforce policy.

UTD’s crackdown against pro-Palestine student protesters started in fall 2023 with the Oct. 7 increase in conflict between Israel and Hamas. Students took to painting the Spirit Rocks, three on-campus boulders traditionally painted to advertise different events and viewpoints, to voice their support for either Israel or Palestine starting in early October. On Oct. 16, after about a week of back-and-forth on the rocks, then-President Richard Benson sent out a school-wide email commending UTD students for expressing their political views in a civil manner and expressing sympathy for the Israeli casualties in the war, without any mention of the Palestinian civilians killed up to that point. 

A month later, the university removed the Spirit Rocks from campus on the first Monday of Thanksgiving break. The decision sparked condemnation from students and faculty alike, with some calling it an attack on campus free speech, as well as confusion over how the rocks’ use, commendable one month ago, was now worthy of removing them from campus entirely. Since the Spirit Rocks were brought to campus in 2008, the rocks had platformed an array of political messaging, from perspectives on international wars to slogans like “Black Lives Matter.” As of publication, the Spirit Rocks have not been reinstated on campus.

Campus activism about the war continued after the rocks’ removal, with some students painting dozens of small stones and scattering them in the grass where the Spirit Rocks once stood, as well as continued protests calling on UTD to divest from weapons manufacturers arming Israel, protest art drawn in chalk and poetry events. In March 2024, Student Government passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Later that month, Gov. Greg Abbott signed executive order GA44, which calls upon schools to “combat antisemitism” on their campuses in response to the rise in “antisemitic vandalism” across Texas universities since Oct. 7. 

According to the executive order’s text, antisemitism includes phrases like “free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” sentiments such as Israel not having the right to exist and comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany. The bill’s text singled out campus groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine — the primary student group organizing pro-Palestine activism at UTD — as eligible for punishment under these new rules. GA44 taking effect, however, did not quell campus protest activity. UTD’s SJP chapter held an escalating series of protests in late April that culminated with a seven-hour sit-in at the Administration Building, after which UTD administration agreed to meet with student protesters about their demands for divestment. SJP ultimately rejected the offer because administration had also agreed to meet with student groups SJP considered Zionist. Following this rejection, student activists constructed an encampment in the early hours of May 1, falling in line with other 87 other pro-Palestine student encampments across the country such as those at Columbia, Yale and MIT.

The bill’s text singled out campus groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine — the primary student group organizing pro-Palestine activism at UTD — as eligible for punishment under these new rules.

At 3:45 p.m. May 1, a notice from UTD demanding that students dismantle the encampment was read out loud by one of the encampment organizers, but the protest did not stop. By 4 p.m., law enforcement approached the Chess Plaza and began dismantling the encampment and making arrests. UTD sent out a schoolwide email that evening stating the encampment was not permitted on campus because it obstructed walkways and violated institutional rules. However, in an op-ed for D Magazine, history professor Ben Wright — one of the professors arrested — wrote that walking around the encampment did not take more than 30 additional seconds. 

The 21 arrested were held in jail until the following day; Alibhai was the first released at 11 a.m. May 2. As a condition of their release, all of the students and faculty arrested were only permitted on campus for class or teaching-related duties as part of their bond conditions. Later that month, UTDPD issued a warrant for the arrest of one of the “UTD 21” students when he attended his own graduation and displayed a Palestine flag, something his lawyer had told him was permissible under his bond. 

Over the summer, all nine arrested students underwent disciplinary hearings and faced academic sanctions including deferred suspension and denial of degree. Deferred suspension means that if a student were to break another rule on campus, they would be suspended from their classes. Denial of degree refers to a period of time wherein UTD would deny that a graduated student possesses a UTD degree if an interviewer or employer called the school to verify the diploma. A spokesperson for UTD gave the following statement to The Mercury, UTD’s former student newspaper:

“Individuals who participated in the May 1 encampment at UTD were not arrested for protesting. They were arrested for criminal trespass after failing to comply with requests that they remove the barricaded encampment erected in the pre-dawn hours of May 1.” 

The academic sanctions against the nine students were all dropped by Oct. 14 that year.

According to public records obtained by The Retrograde, campus administrators made changes to the guidelines governing how students can demonstrate on campus in the days after the May 1 encampment arrests. Dean of Students Amanda Smith emailed a list of guidelines related to UTDSP5001, UTD’s policy on speech, expression and assembly, to SJP members that she claimed to have also sent them in October. The guidelines sent in October did not include specific language banning chalk and encampment-style structures, which the new guidelines sent in May did include. A UTD spokesperson provided the following statement to The Retrograde:

Campus administrators made changes to the guidelines governing how students can demonstrate on campus in the days after the May 1 encampment arrests.

“While the two documents are not identical, the intent of the changes to the May 3 document was to provide further information on university policies governing speech and assembly. There were no changes to the policy between October and May. We are happy to meet with students if they have questions or concerns or if they want additional information on policies and procedures.” 

Neither the October nor May guidelines are publicly available as part of UTDSP5001. Since the May guidelines were shared with SJP, other student organizations have erected tents and used chalk on campus without administrative pushback.

Student activists continued protesting for Palestine throughout fall 2024, seeing a much smaller turnout than the previous semester. The most notable protest that fall was when UTD students joined over 1,000 total protesters outside the Dallas Hilton Anatole Nov. 16 to oppose it hosting the annual Global Conference for Israel. The largest protest since the May 1 arrests came nearly a full year later in mid-March in support of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student and Palestine activist arrested by ICE earlier that month, with about 100 total attendees. 

On April 24 this year, Collin County officially indicted 14 of the “UTD 21” for obstruction of a passageway. The remaining seven were no-billed, meaning a grand jury did not find enough evidence to suspect they had committed a crime. The remaining seven are not currently being prosecuted, but could potentially be indicted by a different grand jury in the future. And on May 16, another graduate was arrested for protesting for Palestine at his graduation.

The events of May 1 drew immediate uproar from across the UTD community and local organizations alike. Within days of the encampment, emergency statements were put out by the Student Government, emergency meetings were held by the Academic Senate, 1,470 alumni signed a petition calling for the release of the students and hundreds of faculty did likewise. Public records obtained by The Retrograde show that then-Speaker of the Academic Senate, Ravi Prakash, attempted to mass circulate his petition to faculty before UTD administration prevented his email from being sent. 

Within days of the encampment, emergency statements were put out by the Student Government, emergency meetings were held by the Academic Senate.

Dozens of organizations including the Islamic Association of North Texas, North Texas Islamic Council and Middle East Studies Association of North America also sent letters criticizing the university. 

A lawsuit against the university has been filed by Alibhai, who claimed his arrest and the aftermath thereof was discriminatory and violated his constitutional rights. Coverage of the university’s response to the encampment by The Mercury led to administrative crackdowns against the student paper, culminating in a mass strike last September and the formation of The Retrograde as an independent student publication.

Protest activity during the fall 2025 semester will likely be impacted by SB 2972, which goes into effect once the semester starts. The law requires schools to amend their speech, expression and assembly policies to comply with several new restrictions, such as bans on any “expressive activities” between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., using sound-amplifying devices like megaphones during class hours that “interfere with campus operations” or occur during the last two weeks of the semester, or wearing a face covering to avoid identification or prevent law enforcement from doing their jobs. Additionally, the law no longer allows members of the public unaffiliated with a university to express themselves in public campus locations such as UTD’s Plinth.

This is part of a series on major changes at UTD. Follow The Retrograde through its print issues or online to keep up with latest stories.