In an email sent to Tufts community members on Aug. 22, University President Sunil Kumar and 12 other university leaders announced new updates to the university’s “time, place and manner” policies around campus activism. The updated guidelines, which apply across all of Tufts’ campuses, serve as a revision to preexisting school policies designed to prevent general disruptions to students’ education, according to university leadership.
“Providing clear direction on where, when, and how protests can occur will better serve all parties, especially students,” Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director of media relations, wrote in a statement addressing the purpose of the revised policies. “We fully respect freedom of speech and the right to advocate for one’s positions. However, after reviewing our experiences from last year, we want to be as clear as possible at the start of this year about university policies and how they are interpreted.”
The updated protest guidelines come in response to last semester’s demonstrations over Israel’s war in Gaza, during which student demonstrators demanded that the university divest from Israeli companies and disclose its financial holdings.
In the introduction of the updated “time, place and manner” document, the university writes that the new guidelines are meant to “reinforce Tufts’ existing policies and procedures,” which include Tufts’ Declaration on Freedom of Expression and its Non-Discrimination Policy. The new guidelines regulate the time, place and manner of demonstration methods, including prohibiting protests during reading and exam periods, implementing restrictions on where students can put up postings and listing locations where protests are not permitted, including libraries, university statues and campus centers.
The university also prohibits chalking on vertical surfaces and institutes a ban on all overnight demonstrations. In the document, the university writes, “Failure to vacate a location, either indoor or outdoor, at the end of the day or ignoring instructions from university officials may result in disciplinary actions, no-trespass orders, or arrests.”
Many student protests last semester saw contentious relations between student demonstrators and the Tufts University Police Department officers. In a statement to the Daily, Yolanda Smith, Tufts’ executive director of public safety, addressed the updated protest guidelines.
“The clarified policy will serve as a more precise directive on when, where, and how protests can occur on our campuses and reduce uncertainty about what is allowed and prohibited,” Smith wrote. “Tufts University police officers and campus security officers will comport themselves professionally and empathetically and provide equal protection for all community members. My team and I respect freedom of speech and activism, which are deeply rooted in the University’s culture.”
Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine denounced the new “time, place and manner” guidance, stating that the new regulations are a way for the university to suppress student activism.
“It is egregious that 10 months into Israel’s genocide in Gaza which has destroyed every university in Gaza and has martyred over 200,000 Palestinians, tufts university is more interested in repressing student activism than divesting from the zionist entity,” SJP wrote in an email to the Daily. “Despite claiming their policies are meant to keep students safe on campus, tufts’s vague ‘protest guidelines’ are a way to silence and intimidate students demanding divestment from an entity that has intentionally martyred thousands of students and academics.”
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, SJP wrote that the university attempted to “threaten” the “No School Year in Gaza” vigil the group had planned for Tuesday night. The group posted screenshots of alleged communications with the university, in which administrators tell the group that they are still “on a hold” and had not completed “past due assignments” or received permission from the fire marshal’s office to hold an event with open flames. According to SJP, the administration has required them to submit numerous essays on “forms of protest acceptable to the administration,” including a 20-page essay on civil disobedience.
“The dynamic is clear. tufts administration opposes the interests of the student body. Our only option must be to continue to agitate and escalate for Palestine,” SJP wrote on Instagram.
“Contrary to SJP’s statements, the Dean of Students Office proactively reached out to the group in the spirit of opening a constructive dialogue to ensure that their events this year, including Tuesday’s vigil, would be safe for all students and compliant with university policy,” Collins wrote. “The Dean of Students Office routinely works with students and student organizations on planning events and activities, including reaching out to them to discuss their plans.”
