Correction: English professor Victoria G. Harrison was misidentified in the story.
San José State University is seeking disciplinary action against students and faculty for creating an encampment in the middle of the SJSU campus.
Pro-Palestinian protesters started an encampment by the Victory Salute statue demanding the university to acknowledge there’s a genocide being committed by Israeli forces, to divest from any financial investments connected to Israel and more, according to a list of demands written by the student organization SJSU for Gaza.
San José State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson stated in an email published on Tuesday that the encampment near Clark Hall violates SJSU’s Time Place Manner Policy.
Teniente-Matson declined to comment to the Spartan Daily.
The Time Place Manner Policy is written by SJSU to ensure that all members of the campus community can fully exercise their constitutional rights to free expression and peaceful assembly, according to a webpage from SJSU.
“As a university community, we must work together to uphold constitutionally protected activities, including freedom of speech and the right to protest, while ensuring safety and health of our campus,” Teniente-Matson said in an email.
She said students, faculty, staff, visitors, and/or organizations will be held accountable for any vandalism, damage or misconduct.
Michelle Smith McDonald, the senior director for Media Relations at SJSU, said the protesters were requested by the university to vacate the area.
She said she doesn't know what specific disciplinary actions will be taken against the protesters, but students part of the encampment may be required to go through Student Code of Conduct proceedings.
The Student Conduct Process is when a university does an investigation and completes a hearing to determine if any policies were violated, according to a webpage from the CSU.
“I couldn't speculate at this point about what specific consequences,” McDonald said. “Everything depends on if there's damage, it depends on if there's vandalism, it depends on if it escalates.”
Sang Hea Kil, a faculty member in Justice Studies, said the encampment and the protesters had been peaceful and very welcoming.
“This is a truly peaceful, loving camp and I am outraged at the aggressive posturing by San José State University administration and police towards these peaceful student protesters,” Kil said.
She said the Time Place Manner Policy is repressive, selectively enforced and is Islamophobic.
“How many times have you been on campus personally as a student here, and heard lots of noise from sporting games?” she said. “Those people never get Time Place Manner violations even though their decibel levels are violating that policy.”
McDonald said the university has no issues with the protesters doing sit-ins from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. because it is within the bounds of the Time Place Manner Policy, but the encampments are in violation of the policy because it happened overnight.
She said the university needs to use different resources, including security facilities, to supervise the encampment.
“We will continue to make them aware that they're in violation and that students are in violation – should they be able to be identified – will be subject to disciplinary action,” McDonald said.
Daniel Mayfield, Omar R.’s attorney who is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and is on the Board of Directors for the Collins Foundation/San José Peace and Justice Center, said in an email to Teniente-Matson that the university must follow “Leonard Law.”
Omar R. former freshman at SJSU, was arrested and suspended in Fall 2023 for an interaction with the Jewish Student Union and Students Supporting Israel, according to a Nov. 21 article previously reported by the Spartan Daily.
Omar R. was arrested and jailed after allegedly tossing an empty Capri Sun in the general direction of another student, according to the same article.
Leonard Law, also known as the California Education Code, prohibits private universities from making or enforcing a rule that allows disciplinary actions against an enrolled student on the bases of speech protected by the First Amendment, according to a webpage from the University of Southern California.
Spartan Daily reached out to Jewish Student Union, Students Supporting Israel and Jewish Studies Program Coordinator and Victoria Harries but was unable to receive a comment.
Mayfield stated the law makes it clear that colleges and universities are not allowed to enact restrictions that are more strict than the U.S. Constitution.
“I suggest the administration on campus at SJSU is on dangerously thin ice,” Mayfield said in the email.
He stated that the university is attempting to invoke restrictions on freedom of speech from the Time Place Manner Policy that are more strict than the U.S. Constitution.
Mayfield stated in the email that the main issue is that anyone should be allowed to walk across campus at any time day or night.
“Yet you want to make being on campus a crime if the person supports peace,” Mayfield stated.
