Nearly 50 professors at the University of Virginia condemned the school’s “repression of a peaceful protest of our students” after police in riot gear confronted pro-Palestinian occupiers over the weekend, joining faculty at other schools in supporting encampments that university leaders are increasingly opposing.
The group of history professors started circulating an open letter on Sunday, one day after Virginia State Police clashed with protesters at UVA, using pepper spray and physical force to clear the encampment and arrest 25 agitators.
The professors join others at schools such as the University of Chicago, Emory University, and Columbia University who have also tried to advocate on behalf of student protesters in the face of university leadership attempts to crack down on them before graduation ceremonies begin in the coming two weeks.
“We … condemn the repression of a peaceful protest of our students by armed state police in riot gear,” the UVA professors stated.
The professors did not take sides in the Israel-Gaza debate, but rather pointed to Founding Fathers such as Thomas Jefferson, who founded the university and authored the Declaration of Independence, and James Madison, who largely wrote the U.S. Constitution.
“‘Here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it,'” they wrote, quoting Jefferson. Turning to school policy on free speech and expression, the faculty members wrote, “‘The University of Virginia has a unique connection to principles of free expression and inquiry’ through its historical ties to the architects of the First Amendment.”
“Whatever our divergent views about the cause for which the protestors were advocating, the virtues of inquiry and debate as well as the importance of critical questioning are fundamental to our mission as members of the University of Virginia faculty,” they added.
While UVA did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner, school President Jim Ryan released a statement about the use of force to remove the encampment, saying the students had numerous warnings and that the university police department’s “attempts to resolve the situation were met with physical confrontation and attempted assault.”
Faculty signatories of the open letter called Ryan’s message “replete with platitudes, half-truths, and evasions,” claiming that the school “created the very conditions that it had worked to avoid — chaos, conflict, and violence.”
Jonathan Butcher, senior research fellow in education policy at the Heritage Foundation, said the encampments have in some cases moved beyond the protections of free speech.
“Faculty cannot claim ‘free speech’ when students are engaged in violence, damage to property, or breaking school rules,” Butcher told the Washington Examiner.
“Speech and violence are different. Students and faculty on a public college campus should be allowed to speak and be heard in public areas as long as they do not violate the expressive rights of others,” Butcher added. “However, if individuals and groups are violating university policy (as was done at UVA because they erected tents without a permit) or damaging campus property (as at Columbia and UCLA), then that is not protected expressive activity.”
Faculty at other schools have come out on the side of protesters as well. On Monday morning, another group of roughly 50 faculty members from the University of Chicago came to the defense of occupying protesters who have been camped in the school’s main quad for over a week, saying they are prepared to be arrested alongside them should tensions escalate.
“Our most immediate concern is for the well-being of our students,” philosophy professor Anton Ford said, according to ABC 7 Chicago. “We don’t want them getting beat up just because they’re camping on the lawn. Because we expected a rain last night, dozens of us were here, the majority came prepared to be arrested with our students.”
University of Chicago negotiations with the protesters broke down Sunday after a Friday confrontation with pro-Israel counterprotesters and a message from university President Paul Alivisatos saying he was ready to “intervene,” adding there was “no end in sight” and “the encampment cannot continue.”
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In late April, professors at Emory University staged a walkout in support of protesting students, just as a group of professors there approved a measure to trigger a vote of no confidence in school President Gregory Fenves. That vote was approved by faculty 358-119 soon after law enforcement ended the encampment and arrested 28 people, 20 of whom were faculty and staff.
Around the same time, as negotiations took place in New York City, Columbia University faculty came out in solidarity with the encampment, linking arms ahead of the then-deadline for students to remove themselves before facing suspension.