Monday, Aug. 26, the College of William and Mary’s website updated policies related to use of campus facilities and freedom of expression. College administrators did not announce these changes to the student body.
Similar to changes implemented at other Virginia schools, the new policies prohibit encampments for student groups.
“Camping on university property is prohibited. Camping shall include: (a) the use of any item to create a temporary structure without an appropriate reservation; (b) the outdoor use of heating devices, generators, or the use of portable toilets; (c) sleeping outdoors with or without a tent, making preparations for sleeping outdoors including the laying down of bedding, or sleeping in any structure or vehicle not designed for human occupancy between the hours of 12:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m,” the College’s policy states.
The College also obligates individuals wearing masks to show an identification document to authorized university personnel.
According to its website, “Any individual who is using a university facility or present on university property and is wearing a mask, hood, or other device or garment whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, must present an identification document when requested by a person lawfully in charge to establish their identity to the satisfaction of such authorized university law enforcement or other university personnel.”
Additionally, the College outlined its no-tolerance policy for demonstrations at speaker events.
“No individual may disrupt an invited or permitted speaker or hinder the ability of other attendees to see or hear a speaker,” the updated policy statement reads.
Thursday, Sept. 19, Senior Vice President for Student Affairs and Public Safety Ginger Ambler and Associate Vice President for Community Values and Connection Greg Henderson sent a student body-wide email linking proposed changes to the Student Code of Conduct and their rationales for the 2024-25 academic year. Some of these changes are related to demonstrating on campus.
“Disruptive Behavior: Engaging in disorderly or disruptive action that interferes with the normal living and work environments of other members of the university community or the University’s activities, including teaching, research, studying, and University-sponsored events and business operations. Disruptive behavior includes acts that interfere with the living/learning environment in the classroom and residence halls spaces,” the document reads.
The document also outlines sanctions for participating in such disruptive behaviors, including probation for moderate disruptions and suspension for major disruptions. The College website explains the reasons for these new changes in their website.
“The proposed changes add clarity about what constitutes disruptive behavior and offers transparency around the rubric employed by those imposing sanctions for violations,” the website reads.
“The proposed changes add clarity about what constitutes disruptive behavior and offers transparency around the rubric employed by those imposing sanctions for violations.”
While the College administration announced changes to their definitions of disruptive behavior in their Sept. 19 email, there was no indication or communication of the changes they indicated in their revisions on the website Aug. 26.
In a statement given to the Flat Hat, Students for Justice in Palestine’s collective board described their reactions to the guidelines change and lack of communication from administration since.
“We actually caught W&M’s silent update to its Use of Campus Facilities policies earlier this semester. Some of the most notable changes are in clear and direct response to the rise of advocacy for and demonstrative means of education of the Palestinian struggle, not just on our campus, but across the country,” they wrote in the statement.
“Some of the most notable changes are in clear and direct response to the rise of advocacy for and demonstrative means of education of the Palestinian struggle, not just on our campus, but across the country.”
SJP also felt these guidelines were in direct response to the club’s demonstration efforts last year, particularly the events that led to the group’s probation by Student Accountability and Restorative Practices through spring 2024 on the basis of traffic obstruction.
“The updated version states that RSOs and affiliated individuals are ‘prohibited from… blocking pedestrian or vehicular traffic,’ whereas the former version (as of July 2024) provided this prohibition only for ‘unaffiliated speakers.’ This is in response to a small, peaceful demonstration SJP held last November outside an academic building in which the Board of Visitors were meeting, during which a small minority of individuals took their time in utilizing a crosswalk, resulting in BOV members having to wait a few extra minutes to drive out of the parking lot. Admin used this to place our organization on probation for the remainder of the academic year,” they explained.
SJP connected the College’s change in policy to similar guideline revisions that administrations announced in other schools, despite some of these policies not necessarily being as relevant to the College’s climate.
“W&M admin added an entirely new clause to define and prohibit ‘camping’ on university property in response to student-led Palestinian advocacy groups establishing encampments and Popular Universities on their campuses across the nation in the spring. It is worth noting that we as an organization made the decision to not engage in a similar event at William & Mary; our campus had no encampments or ‘camping,’ but admin proactively instated this policy in an attempt to curb future acts of solidarity of this magnitude,” they wrote.
Universities nationwide have recently implemented measures impeding upon students’ rights to demonstrate after the encampments last spring.
For example, Monday, Aug. 26, the University of Virginia announced 11 new policies relating to demonstrating on campus, one day before the first day of the fall semester. The new concealment of identity policy states that people wearing a face mask on UVA property may now be asked by officials to show photo identification or a doctor’s note proving medical necessity for a face covering.
Additionally, the university added to their use of shared space clause, citing, “Camping, with or without a tent, is prohibited in outdoor University facilities and on outdoor University property, and sleeping outdoors is prohibited between midnight and 6 a.m.”
Unlike the College, UVA announced these changes via email and UVA Today, which is the university news outlet.
UVA administration wrote in their announcement, “The new or updated rules all aim to make it easier for students, faculty and staff to exercise their First Amendment rights safely and without disrupting the normal operations of the University or the daily lives of the people around them.”
SJP sees a trend between the College and UVA, both public universities, relying heavily on state policy and funding. However, the club finds their reliance on public funding to be more of a reason to be more open to student opinions.
“As a public university operating on government funds, William & Mary has a responsibility to do better in upholding its community members’ Constitutionally-protected rights to express themselves, including and especially in instances of those community members ideologically dissenting from the institution. With that said, these crackdowns on campus advocacy are disappointing but not surprising,” SJP wrote.
In an interview with the Flat Hat, Iqra Ahmad ’26, a club leader of SJP, explained that while she understands that the College being a public university means that it relies on state funding and state policy, she also hopes the administration understands the value in listening to students’ voices.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s almost understandable because we are a public university. Our money comes from the state government and who’s in control of the state government can significantly influence it. So it is unfortunate. But I would also argue that that money is used for students’ education and for students’ well-being. So we need to be prioritizing that in our financial discussions. What do the students need? What are the students calling for? What do the students want? That should be shaping where the money goes and how it’s used,” she said.
Ahmad also stated how the face concealment policies disapproving of wearing masks, while in response to demonstration efforts, are a public health concern that puts students at further risk.
“It is a blatant disregard for basic common sense public health,” Ahmad said. “Your political grievances should not come before your students’ health and safety. That is your priority as an administration. And for you to be able to see that as a failing of you as an administration. That is something that needs to be reconsidered.”
On the note of this policy being used against political demonstrators, Ahmad expressed disappointment with this decision.
“It’s unfortunate that they’re using health as a means of discriminating, as a means of keeping students politically silenced, especially in public campuses, which most of Virginia’s schools are,” Ahmad said.
“It is just very plainly a way for administration to see which students are involved in which actions, which students are the ones we need to look out for, we need to focus on, we need to target,” she said. “It’s yet again just another strategy they’re using to crack down on these political protests to try and forcibly keep students who are involved quiet. And that’s fine. They’re more than welcome to do so because I hope they also recognize that they’re not going to be able to deter the students who are truly committed to this cause.”
Thursday, Sept. 12, SJP hosted their first demonstration of the academic year on Sadler Center Terrace at 11:30 a.m.
The demonstration lasted for almost two hours, with club leaders and representatives from other organizations giving speeches describing the rampant violence in Gaza, as well as their continued disappointment with College leaders for their inaction.
At the protest, Ahmad spoke on the bleak reality of the crisis in Palestine.
“This is our first week of school, but this is not something everyone around the world gets, especially in Palestine. So I want to ground us in the fact. We get to be here as privileged individuals, whereas Palestinians are worried that they may not have their next meal. We have our first week of school. People in Palestine do not,” Ahmad said.
“We get to be here as privileged individuals, whereas Palestinians are worried that they may not have their next meal. We have our first week of school. People in Palestine do not.”
Ahmad specifically highlighted the scholasticide in Gaza, which is the intended mass destruction of education in a specific place and is a term that has recently been associated with the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
“On top of a genocide, it is a scholasticide,” she said.
Ahmad stated that under international law, students and teachers at school are protected entities that should not be targeted, regardless of the warfare their governments are engaging in.
“You cannot target these student-teacher groups. You cannot target these buildings. Instead, we see the genocidal violence entity doing the exact opposite. They are destroying school buildings. They’re targeting teachers and professors and university students. They are targeting young children. This is what we call a scholasticide. It is the intentional and systematic targeting of educational infrastructure, including buildings, including resources,” Ahmad said.
Salma Amrou ’26, a SJP member, similarly spoke on the privilege students at the College have that Palestinians do not.
“We stand here today on our campus grounds with the privilege of going back to school each year safely and consistently. We stand here today with the privilege that the Palestinians fight tooth and nail to give themselves and their children,” Amrou said.
Amrou also gave a speech detailing how long this violence has persisted. She highlighted Palestinian storytellers, scholars and poets throughout the conflict’s history.
“‘Knowledge is Israel’s worst enemy. Awareness is Israel’s most hated and feared.’ These are the words of Refaat Alareer, a professor and poet from Gaza during Israel’s military assault on Gaza in 2014,” Amrou said. “In an article, he lamented the bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza, where he taught English literature and creative writing. An entire decade has passed since the writing of this article. Refaat Alareer is now among the martyrs of the current genocide.”
She then highlighted the continued erasure of storytellers and historians like Alareer.
“His words and legacy remain, but what is a legacy in the wake of what could have been? In another poem of his, he says, ‘If I must die, you must live to tell my story.’ What kind of world do we live in that storytellers like Alareer cannot live to tell their own stories?” she asked.
The students who gathered chanted in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against the Israeli government, specifically Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We want justice, you say ‘how?’ End the siege of Gaza now,” they chanted. “Netanyahu, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.”
Meeran Khan ’25, a representative of the South Asian Interfaith Organization, gave a speech on the lack of South Asian solidarity with the Palestinian people despite similar colonial histories. She emphasized how students can better support the Palestinian cause.
“It is so disheartening to see how disconnected South Asian Americans are from our history of colonization. That should have an influence more on our political values. Years of our ancestors fighting for our rights only for their cause to be ignored when other populations face similar oppression,” Khan said.
Like Ahmad and Amrou, Khan reminded students to recognize their privilege and instead use it to support Palestinians in whichever ways they can.
“As we stand here at William and Mary, we see a constant reminder of colonialism, which is in every monument and every brick path,” Khan said. “Yet, with that reminder, we seem to forget Palestine. So I ask you all this semester, as you get busy with your courses, make the time for Palestine, attend protests and SJP meetings. Call your delegates and stay informed with what is happening at all times. And make sure you’re standing on the right side of history. Your morality should be your priority.”
“As we stand here at William and Mary, we see a constant reminder of colonialism, which is in every monument and every brick path.”
Students also criticized the College’s decision last spring to not divest from Israeli-owned companies, despite the majority of students voting in favor of the referendum.
“We saw our ceasefire resolution go through the Student Assembly, and we saw it not be acted upon by the administration,” Ahmad said. “We saw our divestment referendum pass with a significant majority through the student body, and we saw our school conveniently say the very next day, ‘No, we are not going to divest.’”
In an interview with The Flat Hat, Amrou explained how the group will not let the administration’s rejection of the divestment referendum deter their efforts.
“We are not stopping,” Amrou said. “A ‘no’ from administration isn’t enough to deter us from continuing to fight for liberation and from advocating for our fellow students and our fellow humans in Palestine who are suffering because of the funds that our institution has invested in complicit companies. So honestly, the main thing is to free Palestine. We’re just going to keep on going.”
Amrou said the group followed the national SJP’s guidance for chapters around the nation.
“Today was declared a national day of action for all the SJPs to do something on their campus, and this was our idea for that. We wanted to focus in particular on the fact that we’re approaching one year of genocide and that all universities in Gaza have been destroyed, and our university is complicit in that, which is a very apparent double standard that needs to be pointed out,” Amrou said.
Reflecting on the past year, Ahmad discussed how the rapid escalation of the war since last October led the club to expand its activity and reach.
“When I think back to early fall, a lot of it was seeing like the previous generation of leadership trying to go very quickly from maintaining a very small, close organization to something that expanded very quickly because of everything that happened. It was trying to make that turnaround as quickly as possible, which meant that some of the planning was a little last minute,” she said.
With the expiration of SJP’s probation, Amrou expressed how she believed that this would not affect the club’s operations this semester; however, she maintained how the College’s previous history with SJP makes their situation more complex than for other organizations.
“We are able to operate within the full boundaries of what any RSO can operate in. But I would like to point out that for SJP those boundaries are inherently more limited simply because they will find any excuse to crack down on us,” Amrou said.
In their written statement to the Flat Hat, SJP similarly echoed concerns for potential issues with administration in the future.
“We fully expect admin will try to use these stricter policies to limit our work, especially more public events, but we will not let them deter us from continuing the education, advocacy, and action we do, and we sincerely hope that these policy changes will not deter members of our community from continuing to work with and support us,” the SJP board explained.
As a result, the club places emphasis on student safety.
“If you look at one, what the content is about and two, who shows up for a lot of meetings, a lot of it is students who are already from disadvantaged or marginalized backgrounds in some way or another,” Ahmad said. “They’re inherently more at stake, they have a little bit more to lose.”
Accounting for that, Ahmad said the group prioritizes safety by actions such as distributing masks and holding information sessions on protesting and how to be a safe protester.
Based on last year’s experiences, Ahmad was able to prepare for this year by creating a multidimensional club structure with more frequent meetings, fundraisers and demonstrations.
“We had the summer to do a lot of talking, reflecting, planning. We thought through a lot of things that worked, things that didn’t work so well. And based on that, we came to a consensus on how we could plan,” Ahmad said.
When asked about support from College faculty, Ahmad voiced her appreciation for the solidarity she’s seen from certain educators.
“I think a lot of professors do what they’re able to do,” Ahmad said. “A lot of professors are very active, like professor [Andrea] Wright and professor [Stephen] Sheehi as well. I’m okay naming them because they’re tenured. They’ve been very active because a lot of it’s also within their own focus of education. It’s within their specialty, so we’ve been very grateful to have support from them and professors like them. They do what they can, incorporate it into their teachings.”
Ahmad also understands there are some professors who cannot easily publicly display their support for SJP.
“There are a lot of professors I’m willing to say also do support but aren’t as engaged, whether it’s just because of the time constraints and it being outside of their academic sphere or just they don’t have as much of an opportunity to fully understand what’s going on. We understand the position we’re in, and we’re still so grateful for their words and gestures of support, but we also would love to see any opportunities to engage them further to the extent that they are comfortable,” she said.
Despite these new administrative changes, Ahmad urged demonstrators to continue their efforts.
“When we say ‘Free Palestine,’ and when you see students across the country and across the world shouting, ‘Free Palestine,’ despite anything that administrators try to hinder them with, they say that they want to see an end to this genocide and the Zionist forces’ occupation of the Gaza strip, of the West Bank, of the occupied East Jerusalem. They want to see a government led by Palestinian people, for the Palestinian people,” Ahmad said.
