There are a few more weeks until college is back in session, but the summer break hasn’t stopped some Texas State University students from questioning whether they will be able to continue pro-Palestinian demonstrations come fall.
Texas State changed its free speech policy to comply with a mandate from Gov. Greg Abbott that the governor says is meant to curb antisemitic language and incidents on the state's public college campuses. Consequently, student groups have raised concerns about how the university will decide what it considers a policy violation.
Texas State quietly implements new policy
In the executive order, Abbott required all public Texas higher education institutions to update their policies to address the “sharp rise in antisemitic speech and acts.” Universities must outline potential punishments for anyone found in violation of the new policy.
Universities adopted the working definition of antisemitism from the Texas Government Code, which states:
"'Antisemitism' means a certain perception of Jews that may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. The term includes rhetorical and physical acts of antisemitism directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals or their property or toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities."
Texas State changed its free speech policy on June 20.
“The Texas State updated policy incorporates the antisemitism language that was included in that executive order. It then lays out what potential disciplinary processes and action could be applied to incidents where students, staff, faculty or visitors violate the free speech policy,” said Mike Wintemute, Texas State University System’s vice chancellor for marketing and communications.
The main section of Texas State’s policy incorporates the state’s definition of antisemitism, but the potential consequences for violating the policy have not changed.
“Disciplinary action is based really on a variety of factors, and I don't want to prejudice the outcome of any future disciplinary process,” Wintemute said. “It really will be determined on a case-by-case basis.”
When asked for an example of a potential policy violation, Wintemute said he couldn't speak to future events. However, if someone had held up a sign during the protest in April with offensive language targeting Jews, that would be considered a punishable violation under the new policy.
He said the university did not feel the need to announce those changes to the student body, saying news coverage would do that instead.
“Given the extensive news coverage of these changes, we're comfortable that our students will be aware of these policy changes and how they're expected to engage in free speech and expressive activities on campus,” Wintemute said.
Student group reactions to the policy change are mixed
Some students have questioned whether pro-Palestinian demonstrations will be considered antisemitic.
When Zayna Abdel-Rahim, co-chair of Texas State’s Palestine Solidarity Committee, first read the order in March, she said she was concerned because the committee is specifically mentioned by Abbott. He said the PSO and similar groups must be “disciplined for violating these policies.”
“It was very obvious to me that it wasn't to protect our Jewish communities, but rather to silence the communities speaking up for the Palestinians, which was very concerning to me,” Abdel-Rahim said.
Texas State joined a host of colleges that held pro-Palestinian demonstrations in April. Students held a sit-in on the San Marcos campus, standing with Palestinians and free speech. The demonstrators were also protesting the arrest of dozens of people at a pro-Palestinian rally at UT Austin.
Wintemute said the new policy doesn’t prohibit pro-Palestinian demonstrations but is meant to stop hate speech toward Jews.
“The content or the point of view doesn't matter," he said. "It's the way individuals with that point of view engage on campus."
While Abdel-Rahim said she questions whether Texas State’s policy was amended with pure intentions, Rabbi Ari Weingarten said he believes the executive order is a good faith effort to protect Jews.
Weingarten works for Chabad, a Jewish organization on campus, and said he believes the Jewish student community will feel safer now that the university administration has established a stance against antisemitic hate speech.
“If your free speech is hate speech for somebody else then someone has to come in and say ‘no, this is hateful’ to that person," Weingarten said. "That's exactly what the university is doing.”
Abdel-Rahim said the Palestine Solidarity Committee plans to continue advocating for pro-Palestinian rights on the Texas State campus, and her main concern is what she describes as the broadness of the antisemitism definition, and whether it will result in unnecessary punishments.
“When you look at that definition it can be taken in a lot of contexts, which could thus be taken to turn around and hurt students,” Abdel-Rahim said. “I think that there should be no issue in me saying an opinion of mine. But because of this very vague definition, it can be taken out of context and that's the dangerous part.”
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