UT professor arrested and fired in Austin after confronting police at pro-Palestinian protests

The Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a UT Austin professor on Wednesday after he allegedly grabbed a state trooper’s bike and shouted profanities at officers during a pro-Palestinian protest last week. The professor has since been fired from UT.

The story was first reported by the Austin American-Statesman.

State police last week charged Rich Heyman, an instructor who teaches courses in the Department of American Studies and the College of Liberal Arts, with interference with public duties. This is a Class B misdemeanor under the state penal code. KUT contacted Heyman, but he referred reporters to his attorney, Gerry Morris. Morris said Heyman, who was not tenured, received an email from the university Thursday saying he had been fired. No reason was given.

Heyman, 57, participated in pro-Palestinian protests on the university’s South Lawn on April 29. Over several hours that day, police arrested 79 people and charged the vast majority of them with the offense. In total, there have been more than 130 arrests in recent weeks of protests on the UT Austin campus.

According to a state trooper’s report detailed in an arrest document, Heyman turned to police during protests last week and began shouting obscenities. “F— you. “You don’t belong here,” the police claimed.

As officers surrounded the protesters on the university’s South Lawn, they used their bicycles to create a blockade. State Trooper Thomas Goodson claimed Heyman walked between two bicycles and the officer pushed him away “with an open hand on his chest.”

Goodson said Heyman responded by holding a Nalgene water bottle over his head and pulling on Goodson’s bike, breaking his state bike bell, which cost $62. Morris, Heyman’s attorney, refutes this narrative. He said Heyman grabbed the officer’s bike to prevent him from falling backwards after the officer pushed him.

State troopers arrested Heyman outside his home Wednesday afternoon. Police officers surrounded him as he drove, Morris said.

A UT Austin spokesperson said the university does not comment on personnel matters. Texas DPS did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Heyman had previously attended another rally where faculty members gathered to condemn the university’s response to a pro-Palestinian protest the previous day. The police arrested 57 people. Eventually, the Travis County prosecutor dropped all charges.

“(UT Austin President Jay Hartzell) did not explain how the decision was made to call in the riot troops who provoked violence out of a nonviolent, peaceful protest,” Heyman told a KUT reporter that day.

According to a review of UT Austin’s course catalog, Heyman was scheduled to teach three university courses in the fall, two of which are waitlisted.

“These are really important courses in his program, and he has a long track record of success at the university,” said Anne Lewis, a board member of the Texas State Employees Union. “He is an accomplished and needed employee at the university.”

Lewis confirmed Friday that Heyman had contacted the organization about legal resources. According to his resume, Heyman has worked at UT Austin since 2006.

Lewis said UT Austin’s actions during recent protests are part of a larger pattern of the university overly complying with state law and neglecting workers’ rights. Lewis pointed to the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion-related layoffs last month.

“It is a real overreaction on the part of the university and a lack of understanding of employees’ rights to free speech, assembly and association,” she said. “If (UT Austin) did this, they can do anything.”

Morris, Heyman’s attorney, said he also believes the university’s firing of Heyman was an overreach.

“I’m really disappointed in my alma mater,” Morris told KUT. “You would think they would wait and investigate the incident. … They just want to seem tough.”

Professors at universities across the country have been arrested during their protests, including at UCLA, Emory University and Dartmouth College. It is unclear whether other professors were fired.

Lauren McGaughy and Chelsey Zhu contributed to this story.

KUT journalists are employees of the University of Texas, but UT has no editorial control over their reporting.