The Center for Protest Law & Litigation at the PCJF, co-counsel Thomas Seabaugh, and the ACLU Foundation of Northern California have successfully resolved litigation arising from University of California Santa Cruz’ campus bans of more than 100 students and faculty in May 2024.
At the moment that the federal government and universities across the country are trying to suppress and silence anti-genocide voices among students and faculty, this is a major victory in defense of free speech rights.
The students and faculty were arrested during a protest when police cleared UCSC’s encampment in support of Palestinian human rights and were immediately banned from returning to campus. When they were released from jail, officers subjected the arrestees to Penal Code section 626.4, which permits school officials to “withdraw consent” to remain on campus for up to two weeks. By law, however, a school must normally provide a hearing before kicking a person off campus, unless the individual poses a substantial threat of significant injury to persons or property. The university made no such findings instead instituting a wholesale ban on those who had stood up against genocide.
“The bans were incredibly punitive and profoundly unfair,” said Rachel Lederman, Senior Counsel with the Center for Protest Law & Litigation. “They went into effect on the spot, instantly cutting students and faculty off from classes, jobs, and other school resources, such as meal plans and health care. On-campus residents were rendered homeless. Academic performance suffered.”
Through this lawsuit, we forced significant concessions from the University to prevent it from banishing students or faculty from campus for exercising their right to protest. The University must now meet a strict standard and provide due process to any individual for whom it seeks the extreme measure of banishment.
In a related matter, we challenged campus police seizure of one of the plaintiffs’ cell phone and succeeded in having the scope of the search warrant substantially quashed. We remain vigilant in our continued fight to enforce the essential right to express dissent on college campuses as we defend students across the country subject to punishment for demanding their schools divest from genocide.