On the UT Dallas campus Friday, students said they were holding their ground, continuing a call for the university to divest financial interests in companies providing weapons for Israel amid the war in Gaza.
“We as students here, we're going to keep demanding, we're going to keep pushing until our university ends its complicity,” said Fatima, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine.
Friday’s rally on Chess Plaza painted a stark contrast to one held there Wednesday when protestors erected an encampment.
The University said it called on state and local law enforcement to remove structures that stretched into a walkway only after the group refused to do so. Today officials released a statement:
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"We will continue to support and safeguard the free speech and assembly rights of everyone on our campus provided they follow campus policies."
At Friday’s rally, students condemned those actions.
"I was present at the beautiful encampment until it was disgustingly destroyed by the pathetic law enforcement called by this institution and its administration,” said one speaker.
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Protestors took turns reading statements from some of the 21 people arrested for criminal trespass earlier in the week, saying they were no longer allowed to attend.
UTD has said nine of the 21 arrested had no university affiliation.
“At the ACLU, we're paying close attention to the protests happening in Texas and nationwide,” said senior staff attorney Edgar Saldivar.
Saldivar said the ACLU of Texas has been concerned with aggressive acts deployed by law enforcement against students protesting in recent days, though he didn’t specify on which campuses.
"Under the First Amendment, we all have a right, including students and faculty at public universities in Texas. The private universities have different rules that apply to them. But as long as it's a public university, students have a right to free speech on campus,” he said.
Friday’s rally came to a peaceful conclusion by early evening. As classes end and finals begin, the students involved have said they remain resolute in making their voices heard.
