Pro-Hamas protesters at the University of Texas at Austin. Photo: Nuri Vallbona via Reuters Connect.
The University of Texas at Austin has levied disciplinary sanctions against four students who illegally occupied the campus as part of a pro-Hamas demonstration aimed at pressuring the university to boycott and divest from Israel.
Three students have been sentenced to deferred suspensions, a form of probation which allows them to continue their studies so long as they comply with school rules going forward, according KUT News, a National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate. As part of their punishment, they must pass an exam testing their knowledge of school policies on free speech and protests and formally declare their awareness of the harsher, full suspensions they will receive should they violate school rules again.
One student, KUT added, was given a “full” two-year suspension during which he is banned from campus. The suspension effectively disenrolled him from the university, but he can reapply for readmission in 2026.
“The University of Texas at Austin provided a world-class learning environment where every student can thrive,” said a letter, as quoted by the outlet, sent to one of the students who was placed on deferred suspension. “At this juncture, suspension appears to be the appropriate consequences for these serious infractions.”
It continued, “However, recognizing your commitment to educational growth, we want to offer you an alternative path to avoid suspension by proving that you have learned from this experience. We offer you the choice to accept a deferred suspension.”
The University of Pennsylvania has also disciplined pro-Hamas rioters for their conduct this past semester. According to a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) splinter group — Freedom School for Palestine — four students have been “placed on semester-ling or year long suspension.”
Harvard University and Stanford University barred several of its protesters from graduation, withholding their degrees pending further review of their conduct. Meanwhile, Columbia University reportedly suspended over a dozen protesters, some of whom vandalized school property.
Administrators and faculty have been disciplined for their conduct too.
Last week, Drexel University president John Fry announced that professor Mariana Chilton “has been placed on administrative leave” for participating in a mass theft of items from a synagogue in a suburb outside Philadelphia. Chilton, 56, a professor of health management and policy at Drexel, is accused of and criminally charged with stealing pro-Israel signs from the Main Line Reform Temple in Lower Merion Township, traveling there from her neighborhood of residency, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Chilton allegedly drove the getaway car while two other accomplices, Sarah Prickett and Sam Penn — who is from New York — trespassed the synagogue and absconded with the loot.
Chilton’s case is unlike any other reported in the past year. While dozens of professors have been accused of abusing their Jewish students and encouraging their classmates to bully and shame them, none are alleged to have resorted to stealing from a Jewish house of worship to make their point.
On Monday, Columbia University announced that three administrators have been place on involuntary leave for sharing communications which “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes” while serving on the job, president Minouche Shafik said in a statement. The action followed an explosive Washington Free Beacon report which revealed that administrators Susan Chang-Kim, Cristen Kromm, Matthew Patashnick, and Josef Sorett, who is dean of Columbia College, sent a series of text messages which denigrated Jews while spurning their concerns about rising antisemitism and the fate of Israel, denouncing them as “privileged” and venal.
“Whether intended as such or not, these sentiments are unacceptable and deeply upsetting, conveying a lack of seriousness about the concerns and experiences of members of our Jewish community that is antithetical to our university’s values and the standards we must uphold in our community,” Shafik said. “We are taking action that holds those involved in this incident accountable … more broadly, we will launch a vigorous program of antisemitism and antidiscrimination [sic] training for faculty and staff this fall, with related training for students under the auspices of university life.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
