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Criticism spurs Montclair State to change policy

Watchdog group says protest revisions still illegal

By: Hannan Adely
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Montclair State University overhauled a policy restricting protest and speech 11 days after it was announced, after criticism that ti was :excessive" and "unconstitutional."
..... The policy had been corralling protests and leafleting into one small part of campus and limiting silent activities such as holding signs and wearing "symbolic clothing."
..... But even with the revisions announced Tuesday, [10/29/2024] the policy still runs afoul of the law, laying out new rules on where protesters can stand and confining some activities to the campus amphitheater, said a free speech watchdog organization.
..... "As a public university, Montclair State is bound by the First Amendment, and what we are seeing in this in all versions of Montclair's revised policy, are repeated violations of fee speech rights," said Ross Marchand, program officer for the Foundation for Individual Rights and expression.
..... College and university across the country rolled out new policies this fall [2024] restricting student demonstrations in response to a wave of protests that gripped campuses last spring. [2024] Administrators say the policies keep campuses safe and free form disruptions to learning and are not aimed a any particular group or point of view.
..... "I want people to fell they can express themselves," Montclair State President Jonathan Koppell told the University Senate at a meeting Wednesday. [10/30/2024] "But we have a strong obligation, first of all, to maintain safety and, second of all, to maintain the operations of the university as a place where people come to study, learn and engage."
..... Students and faculty say the revised policy is an improvement, but concerns remained about the potential impact on their activism.

'A third of a football field'

..... Under the new rules, any activity that expresses ideas, opinions or messages must take place at least 100 feet away from the entrance of any academic building. That effectively means that most outdoor spaces on campus still remain off limits for student demonstrations, Marchand said. The regulation, which also applies to silent gatherings, is "completely out of line with what we see with other university regulations, like Rutgers," Marchand added.
..... "They could have just written don't block entrances and exits,: he said. Instead, it is 100 feet, which is a third the length of a football field. It effectively means that most outdoors spaces on the campus are off limits to students.
..... A Montclair State spokesperson said that the space was a buffer intended to maintain the flow of normal operations.
..... "The university relied on existing New Jersey law when determining the appropriate distance," the spokesperson said. "For example, New Jersey prohibits expressive activity within 100 feet of a polling place so as to not hinder those who need to enter the buildings."
.....Campus organizations can hold activities in the amphitheater or back quad only if they have an outside cosponsor or collaborator, according to the policy. It's written so broadly that it could encompass getting written materials from a regional or national chapter, having a person from outside the school join an event, or inviting an outside speaker, Marchand said.
..... Asked about this policy Wednesday, [10/30/2024] Koppell said it would apply if outsiders joined an event. but he said he did not know if it would apply to having outside speakers. The university would be willing to further clarify the policy, if needed, he said.
..... He also addressed concerns about silent protest - defined in the earlier version to be anything from sitting or walking to displaying signs or wearing clothing to convey a message. he said silent protect would not apply to an individual's clothing. Rather, it covers "expressive activity that gathers individual together," according to the policy.
..... Koppell said the policy was intend not only to prevent disruption to campus operations, but also to protect students who were holding the events.

Dueling protests

..... Adam Rzepjka am associate professor involved with Faculty for Justice in Palestine and Montclair State University for Palestine, said he was concerned about the new rules at a time when, he believed, pro-Palestinian speech was policed more heavily than other groups.
..... In the past month, [10/2024] he said, administrators have repeatedly told faculty and students holding placards with pictures of Palestinian and Israeli children and the words "we mourn" that they must shut down. In another case, they were told they had to relocate to the Amphitheater. Koppell called for protests to be relocated there in an email last November, [2023] but it was not official policy, Rzepka said.
..... Rzenka said the silent demonstrators were outnumbered by police and administrators who came to shut them down. In one case, police checked identifications of students and threatened to charge them with trespassing, Rzepha said. That contrasts, he said, with their treatment of an outside pro-Israel group called Mothers Against College Antisemitism that held a counter-protest outside a poetry reading and march on October 9. [2024] Police stood by while the group of about 20 men and women shouted down student speakers and yelled obscenities, according to witnesses and a Medium article penned by a student. On video they can be heard yelling "terrorist" and "Jew hater' as students walked by. "The difference in treatment could not be starker," Rzepka wrote in a letter to Koppell. "MSU groups protesting for a cease-fire in Gaza have been told to vacate on four separate occasions this semester. The first outside, non-campus group to protest in favor of the war was welcomed in to yell obscenities at our students."
..... The university said it did not have advance notice of the counter-protest. The police used their judgment to deescalate the situation and keep both groups "separated and safe," the spokesperson said. In other incidents, the university denied treating any pro-Palestinian activities disparately, saying it was responding to instances where silent expressive activity had blocked entranceways or has not remained silent, or the university was not given appropriate notice.
..... Colleges and Universities are allowed, within reason, to pass content-neutral rules about when, where and how students protest, according to civil liberties groups. They cannot discriminate based on point of view. Rules are supposed to be applied evenly, no matter who is holding an event and what the cause is.

'Cautiously optimistic'

..... Montclair State's actions come just three years after it settled a free speech lawsuit filed on behalf of a student group that was stopped form staging a pro-gun-rights protest on campus. under terms of the settlement, the university adopted a policy on free expression in 2021 - one that has been changed twice in two weeks.
..... Tyson Laughofer, senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom at Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented students in that lawsuit, addressed the school's actions in a statement.
..... "Montclair State University's decision to reimpose unconstitutional 'speech zones' on its campus just a few years after agreeing to settle a lawsuit over a similar policy is certainly concerning," Langhofer wrote. "Universities should be the marketplace of ideas, a space where students learn how to engage in civil debate, not censorship."
..... Yitzi Halberstam, a junior at the university and part of Montclair State University for Palestine, worried that "vague language" in the policy could be used to clamp down on future events.
..... Still Halberstam was 'cautiously optimistic, especially after the university walked back some of the more controversial aspects of the policy - including a clause saying they can charge campus groups for law enforcement protection, He hoped the policy could be further improved with input form the campus community.
..... "It could be sued to make campus safer for everyone or it could be sued to crack down on free speech,: Halberstam said. "It depends on if they listen to the campus community and help us be part of the process."

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