The ACLU of Michigan and the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the University of Michigan, alleging the school has unconstitutionally banned protesters from its Ann Arbor campus in an effort to silence dissent.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of people banished from the university after they participated in Palestinian solidarity protests on Ann Arbor’s campus. The banishments, which prohibit people from setting foot on much of the university’s campus under the threat of criminal prosecution, violate the First Amendment’s free speech protections and the 14th Amendment’s due process rights, the lawsuit argues.
Under the university’s current policies, a campus police officer has been authorized to issue a trespass ban to protesters.
The bans, which typically last a full year, cut protesters off from classes, work obligations, and public space, the lawsuit states.
Plaintiff Jonathan Zou said he was issued a trespass ban that prevented him from attending classes or stepping food on any property within the entire UM system.
“While my ban has recently been amended to finally allow me to return to class, I’m still forbidden from participating in protests and student organizing meetings, attending lectures and events, and meeting professors, classmates, and friends in person,” Zou said in a statement Monday. “I have a constitutional right to be on campus, go about my daily life and to participate in protests against the university. It’s absurd that my university is getting in the way of exercising my rights by threatening me with criminal trespass prosecution.”
For those who challenge their bans, the university’s appeals process lacks due process protections, the lawsuit states. Protesters are given a brief hearing before the university’s public safety department, where they are expected to persuade university officials to amend or revoke the ban. At the same time, the students are not presented with evidence against them or an explanation for the decision, the lawsuit states.
“The Constitution does not permit any public institution — whether it’s the White House or the University of Michigan — to crush expressions of dissent,” Loren Khogali, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan, said. “Our lawsuit is an important measure to defend the constitutional liberties of those who wish to protest today and those whose rights will need protection tomorrow.”
As U.S.-backed Israeli attacks in Gaza killed tens of thousands of people, rallies have broken out on college campuses nationwide calling for a ceasefire and for financial divestment from Israel — including at the University of Michigan, where some students have been charged by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
In May, officers in riot gear used batons and pepper spray to drive protesters back from a pro-Palestinian encampment before tossing tents, supplies, and students’ belongings into trash containers.
The University of Michigan’s actions amount to an unconstitutional crackdown on free speech, according to the lawsuit.
Liz Jacob, an attorney with the Sugar Law Center, said UM is using trespass bans “to target, attack, and silence the speech of protesters.”
“The threat of effectively being barred from classes, suspended from the university, kept from working on campus or even walking the grounds constitutes an extreme attempt to quell free speech and due process rights that are protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments,” Jacob said. “We believe that it is critical to bring forward this lawsuit today to put an end to the University of Michigan’s unconstitutional policies, which wrongly deny people their rights to free speech and due process.”
The lawsuit seeks to end the university’s trespass bans against protesters, as well as changes to the university’s policies on restricting speech and protest rights.
Officials from the University of Michigan declined to comment, saying the school has not yet been served with the lawsuit.
