Five undergraduate students suspended indefinitely by UC Irvine after their participation in various pro-Palestinian protest activities on campus earlier this summer are suing the UC Regents and UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman in state court, alleging the suspensions “constitute a clear violation of the university’s own rules and the minimum standards of due process applicable to public institutions.”
Amid a wave of protests on college campuses across the U.S. related to the Israel-Hamas war, tensions between student protestors and UCI came to a head on May 15 after a small group barricaded themselves inside the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall, leading university officials to call on officers in riot gear from more than 20 Southern California law enforcement agencies to clear them and a much larger group of about 500 protestors at a makeshift pro-Palestine campus encampment outside the lecture hall.
Ultimately, police made 47 arrests, including 27 students, while clearing the protest. On May 21, the university gave those students interim suspensions, according to the complaint. Other student suspensions are tied to events before and after May 15.
University officials had previously allowed the encampment to stand for more than two weeks despite Gillman announcing on May 3 that it violated “important and common-sense policies.” However, multiple students in the lawsuit said they were “suddenly” suspended on May 8 for alleged violations of campus rules and regulations related to their involvement with the encampment and said they were “suspended without any prior notice or an opportunity to be heard.”
The plaintiffs argued that other students were suspended after May 15 “simply by virtue of the fact that they were arrested.”
According to the lawsuit, at least two students were suspended for the first time and three students received a second interim suspension in June after participating in at least one of two car caravans that month where students drove cars on campus roads while honking and displaying Palestinian flags, including during June 14 graduation ceremonies.
Southern California-based lawyers for the UCI students filed their complaint on July 30 with the Superior Court in Alameda County, where the UC regents are based. The American Civil Liberties Union also filed an amicus brief in support of the students, arguing that the interim suspensions violated due process.
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“In the absence of due process, the interim suspensions appear arbitrary at best,” ACLU attorneys wrote in their brief. “At worst, in a case like this, they can give rise to credible accusations that the university is targeting speech it disfavors.”
The students, each unnamed in the case, said UCI upheld their suspensions after hearings at which they claimed the university “presented no evidence” that could justify that decision. They said that because of their suspensions, the university has banned them from all campus activity, including classes, jobs, graduation ceremonies and campus housing.
“UCI’s failure to provide due process comes at a tremendous cost to our clients’ education and physical and mental well-being,” said Julia Harumi Mass, a partner at Rothner, Segall & Greenstone and part of the pro bono team representing the students. “UCI violated its own policy and the Constitution by effectively banning their students from campus life. The suspensions should not be allowed to stand.”
A UCI spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit Monday morning.
However, earlier in August, when the OC Register reported that students suspended by UCI related to protest activity have been waiting for months with no updates on their academic statuses, university officials said that delays to student conduct proceedings are about fairness.
“While initial estimates for the completion of the student conduct process may be provided, each allegation is investigated separately, and various factors can affect the timeline,” said Michael Uhlenkamp, UCI’s assistant vice chancellor of communication and media relations. “The university is committed to working with students on these matters, ensuring our policies are enforced in accordance with the University of California’s guiding principles for disciplinary action.”
Students who filed the lawsuit said they were told they would receive decisions on their cases as soon as June or early July, but they have not. As their cases drag on, they said the university has unfairly punished their free speech.
“Our clients have courageously spoken out against genocide and are now paying an unprecedented price for it,” said Thomas Harvey, another plaintiffs’ attorney.
The students are asking the court to lift the suspensions and are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief that would prevent UCI from taking similar actions in the future, their attorneys said.
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