TU maintains protest policy for Oct. 7 anniversary

By Sarah Sternhagen, Editor-in-Chief

Towson University will not be adjusting its policy on demonstrations for the Oct. 7 anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, a university spokesperson told The Towerlight in an email.

TU’s campus saw several protests last school year surrounding the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Where, last year on Oct. 7 the Hamas group attacked Israel, killing over 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. In the year since, over 40,000 Palestinians have died from the ongoing conflict, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israeli officials say at least 97 of the hostages are still in Gaza and that around a third of them are believed to be dead.

One of the Palestine protests at TU included a “die-in” at Tiger Plaza, where five students were disciplined for their violation of TU’s Time, Place and Manner for Expressive Activities policy. 

In August, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU) sent a letter addressed to Towson University President Ginsberg calling for the university to expunge the students’ disciplinary records.

“We were totally consistent with our time, place and matter policies, and we will continue to be,” Ginsberg said.

“The discipline imposed on these students violated TU’s own policies, and violated the First Amendment,” ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Nick Taichi Steiner wrote in the letter. “We hope that our concerns about TU’s policies, and the discipline imposed in this case can be resolved without the need for litigation, but we are prepared to bring suit.”

Towson’s policy outlines restrictions on expressive activity on campus grounds. 

The policy designates demonstration areas that do not need university approval to use, which include the Public Safety Field in front of TU’s Public Safety Building and the Towsontown Garage Field located across the street from Tiger Plaza.

The policy also establishes rules for granting other on-campus spaces for expressive activity. Such as how students, faculty or staff planning events must contact certain offices to reserve space, and that the spaces are on a first-come, first-serve basis. 

The policy also states that no expressive activity going through official channels will be prohibited on the basis of content.

Spontaneous protests are not permitted at Tiger Plaza and the “die-in” student protesters did not secure permission for the event, The Towerlight reported.

At other Maryland campuses, Oct. 7 demonstration policies have been challenged.

On Sept. 1, the University of Maryland announced they would be limiting activity on Oct. 7 to university-sponsored events only. This resulted in a previously approved event to be held on Oct. 7 by the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter to be canceled.

On Sept. 17, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Palestine Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of the SJP for UMD canceling its Oct. 7 event. The ACLU filed a brief supporting the lawsuit.

On Tuesday, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction that required UMD to reinstate the SJP’s event reservation. 

The UMD said they will abide by the court’s decision and move forward with the scheduled Oct. 7 events.

TU Communications sent a university-wide email last week with resources for civic engagement.

The email comes before the 2024 election season and almost a week before the Oct. 7 anniversary.

The email included resources for civic engagement and links to TU’s Policy on Time, Place and Manner for Expressive Activities. It did not specifically say it was for the Oct. 7 anniversary, but that it was to help “manage through the national and global challenges that can potentially add significant stress to your work-life balance.”