Four out of ten UT protesters arrested were not affiliated with UT. Were they “outside agitators”? What UT calls external disruption, students call a movement – ​​news

Protesters gather at UT-Austin after a series of arrests occurred at an earlier protest (Photo by Lina Fisher)

A review of 87 probable cause affidavits related to the arrests of protesters at the recent pro-Palestine protests at UT-Austin shows that about half are current UT students.

In an April 30 press release, UT announced that of the 79 people arrested on April 29, “45 had no connection to UT Austin” and that “these numbers confirm our concerns that much of the disruption on campus… was staged by people from outside the university.”

That number seems about right. Using the current UT student and staff directory, an alumni directory and affidavits from 87 protest arrests, the timeline found that about 35 people, or about 40% of those arrested, were not students, staff or alumni.

What Austinites make of that number seems to depend on perspective: Those the university labels as outsiders and troublemakers are seen as teammates in a movement against the genocide in Gaza. (While mainstream media outlets like Fox and CNN have described protests as anti-Semitic, the protesters and organizers we interviewed at UT-Austin have consistently disavowed anti-Semitism. They highlight the more than 13,000 Palestinian children killed so far, as well as Israel’s bombing of certain areas zones.)

Sam Law, a Jewish graduate student who was arrested, said UT’s language seemed to portray cooperation as a conspiracy. “It takes solidarity – our ability to stand together – and it sounds like it’s something scary. We are outsiders in Gaza, we do not live there and we stand in solidarity with them.”

The idea that “outside agitators” came to UT to disrupt campus activities is one of the reasons UT justifies the violent law enforcement response, carried out by three law enforcement agencies – the University of Texas Police Department and the Austin Police Department – ​​and the Texas Department of Public Safety, whose presence during the first week of protests was specifically requested by UT President Jay Hartzell.

“It takes solidarity – our ability to stand together – and it sounds like it’s something scary. We are outsiders in Gaza, we do not live there and we stand in solidarity with them.”– Sam Law, a Jewish graduate student who was arrested

UT is not alone in using this rationale for its arrests. After revealing that 29% of the people arrested on Columbia’s campus last week were not students, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said, “There’s someone funding this.” Someone’s radicalizing our students .” The term “outside agitator” has been bandied about at many moments of civil unrest in American history: the Black Lives Matter uprisings of 2020, the 2014 Ferguson protests, and the attempt by the Freedom Riders during the 2020 Civil War To discredit the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

In fact, talk of “outside agitators” was so common during the Civil Rights Movement that Martin Luther King Jr. directly challenged the concept in his oft-quoted 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” He wrote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We are caught in an inescapable network of reciprocity, bound in a single garment of fate. What affects one directly affects everyone indirectly. We can never again afford to live with the narrow-minded, provincial idea of ​​an “external agitator.”

UT protesters appear to have a similar perspective. James Clark, a UT alumnus and Austin Lawyers Guild attorney who defends protesters, said the “outside agitator” narrative is “an attempt to divide the movement.”

While student protesters are supporting non-students, are these non-students violating campus rules by protesting at UT? As the university explicitly made clear last year, non-students are allowed to protest on the UT campus. Six months ago, in a video Q&A for Free Speech Week at UT, a speaker referenced a 2019 law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott that, the speaker said, “allows members of the public to access our campus Come and use our common areas.” Outdoor areas for speech activities.” The University may make exceptions regarding the time, place and nature of speech – including the use of amplified sound and blocking of passageways – but these must be content-neutral, which means that the rules must be applied equally regardless of the speaker and speaker explained.

Protest rules brochures UT last week issued several reasons why protesters could be forcibly removed from campus, including wearing masks and building encampments. The statesman noted that First Amendment experts say setting up an encampment would be grounds for removing protesters and would be considered civil disobedience, while banning mask-wearing is a more dubious requirement because the Constitution protects anonymous speech.

As of press time, all 57 protesters arrested on April 24th had their charges dismissed, but the 79 arrested last Monday still face criminal charges (virtually all for trespassing).