Lily Kepner, Austin American-Statesman
Fri, May 2, 2025
Joining nationwide protests Thursday against the Trump administration, a few dozen University of Texas students gathered below the iconic UT Tower to rally in support of migrant rights and free speech.
May Day, also known as International Workers' Day, is celebrated May 1 as a day of protest linked to a history spanning more than a century of labor organizing. At this year's gathering of about 40 to 50 people at UT, organizers said a climate of fear around pro-Palestinian and anti-Trump speech has chilled expressive activity on college campuses ― but it has also revealed the need for continued advocacy. In addition to immigrant and workers' rights, protesters also chanted for a free Palestine and for LGBTQ+ rights, and against racism, arguing that all those causes are "interconnected."
"It's even more important to stand together," said Javier Perez, a first-year UT student in biomedical engineering and a member of the Students for a Democratic Society. "These are not abstract political developments. They are here on our campuses."
University of Texas student Javier Perez speaks to students during a May Day protest at UT to oppose the presence of ICE on campus, the revocations of student visas and President Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations of immigrants.More
In April, at least 260 international students in Texas, including 176 at UT System institutions, had been affected by the Trump administration's changes to their legal statuses, some losing their visas for violations such as parking tickets or for no reason. More than 100 lawsuits were filed about the visa terminations nationwide, including in North Texas.
In a sudden reversal April 25, the Justice Department restored visas for thousands of students across the country who had minor or dismissed legal infractions. UT confirmed to the American-Statesman that "multiple" visas had been restored at its campus. UT System spokesperson Randa Safady said in an email Friday that "some universities recently learned about the reinstatement of the status of some international students whose visas were previously revoked."
But in newly released court documents, the Trump administration unveiled plans for a new policy and system to terminate the legal residency of international students "as needed," Inside Higher Ed reported. The policy is not yet final, but it could signal more visa revocations ahead.
"We do not have any additional information on how many students were affected or whose visa status was reinstated," Safady, the UT System spokesperson, said in an email Friday.
Brenda Flores listens during the May Day protest in front of the UT Tower.
Protesters on Thursday repeated calls for the university to offer more public support to international students. At a UT Faculty Council meeting last week, a representative from Senior Vice Provost for Global Engagement Sonia Feigenbaum said Texas Global has been in touch with students individually by connecting them to resources and information. It is not sharing specific information about how many students have been affected, and the university declined to comment further.
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"We have been working very closely with a variety of offices and units across the university to make sure that we support all international students and scholars with concerns," Feigenbaum told faculty April 21. "One of the things that's really important is for us to keep the privacy of every single one of these students. ... We are not here to talk about numbers, because we want to make sure that what really ensues is our support of each individual."
Tim, an international student at UT from Taiwan who declined to share his last name for fear of retaliation, said he and other international students are fearful of speaking out because of the Trump administration, but he showed up to the protest because he believes in the importance of the Palestinian liberation movement and protections for international workers.
"America is a country of free speech, and that's an important reason I chose UT," Tim said. "We are not only immigrants. We are workers. We are teaching assistants."
UT student Joel Crain participates in the May Day protest on the campus.
The local chapter of the Texas State Employees Union released a statement condemning the targeting of international students by the federal government, and union representatives spoke at the rally in support of international students' rights.
"The attacks on students, institutions, and academic freedom have not only silenced university administrators at a critical time, but members of the university community under threat have been given insufficient support and guidance," the union's statement said. "TSEU is calling on public higher education (institutions) to provide accurate information about visa revocations; provide useful support to students, staff, and faculty that could be affected; and to protect university community members from these attacks"
Just down the road earlier that day, thousands of protesters gathered at the Capitol to demonstrate against President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, and they marched to Austin City Hall in the early evening.
In an interview, Perez, the first-year UT student, said that Students for a Democratic Society has been working to organize the campus around progressive causes regardless of how speech is being chilled. He said UT should follow Harvard's lead in standing up for students, but he understands the university's constraints due to its reliance on public funds.
"But above all else, we should stand up for students' rights," he said.
Lawsuit alleges former University of Michigan employees were fired for participating in protests
Anna Liz Nichols
Fri, May 2, 2025
Pro-Palestinian protestors gather on University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus on March 14, 2025 to call for the release of Columbia University organizer Mahmoud Khalil | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former employees of the University of Michigan are suing the leadership of the school, alleging that their employment was terminated after they engaged in pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Detroit by the Sugar Law Center and American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, asserts the university’s actions are in violation with the employees’ constitutional rights of freedom of speech, petition and assembly.
The university attributed all firings and blacklisting to violations of the school’s policies on community violence, but the lawsuit states neither the seven student employees nor the full-time employee who faced repercussions for their participation in protests on campus enacted any sort of violence and complied with police instructions during the events.
Civic engagement has long been a hallmark of the university community, the lawsuit states, noting University of Michigan students throughout history have protested for different causes on campus including demanding an end to the Vietnam War.
But as members of the university community hold protests demanding the university divest from companies tied to Israel’s war in Gaza, the lawsuit states that since the deadly October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the university has completely changed its response to protest activity on campus.
“Since October 7, 2023, the University has solely targeted, discriminated against, and punished students for engaging in speech and protest activity in support of Palestine and calling for the University to divest from Israel as a means of pressuring Israel to cease human rights violations against the Palestinian people, including crimes against humanity and genocide,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit notes that divestment is a reasonable effort for protesters to pursue as the university has divested before, including divesting from tobacco companies in 2000, South Africa in the 1970’s and 80’s and Russia in 2022. The lawsuit further notes that never before has peaceful participation in protests on the university’s Ann Arbor campus resulted in termination or permanent ineligibility for rehire, as it has for these employees.
University of Michigan spokesperson Kay Jarvis said, “the university does not comment on litigation” in response to Michigan Advance’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
The protests at the heart of the lawsuit are a November 17, 2023 sit-in protest outside the university president’s office and a May 3, 2024 protest outside of the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
During the May 2024 protest, the lawsuit said protestors stood outside the art museum while several of the university’s regents were inside the building for a private event. Protestors linked arms and chanted and moved back to continue their protest after university police set up a barrier around the entrance of the art museum.
Months later, five university employees who participated in the protest were sent correspondence informing them that their employment was terminated and they were permanently not eligible for rehire for violating the university policies against community violence.
Four of the individuals who were fired months after the protest were not employees of the university when the protest was held, according to the lawsuit, which added that all the former employees who participated in the November 2023 and May 2024 protests participated in their own personal time.
During the November 2023 protest, the lawsuit says one particular student, Zaynab Elkolaly, attempted to join the sit-in protest outside the university president’s office, entering the Ruthvan Building, when she became caught between a crowd trying to enter the building and police officers at the entrance.
“While turned away from the entrance to leave and with her back to the police, she was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground by a University of Michigan police officer. While being thrown to the ground, her hijab was ripped off,” the lawsuit says.
Months later, after Elkolaly had graduated and was no longer an employee at the university, but was planning on applying for work at the school, she received a letter from the university saying she was ineligible for rehire due to violating the school’s policies against violence.
“Each of the Plaintiffs was a dedicated University employee who took their job duties seriously, conducted exemplary work, and performed necessary services for the University,” the lawsuit states, adding that the processes the university enacted to terminate employment or bar future employment for the former employees robbed them of due process to combat retaliation by the university for their civic engagement.
The lawsuit seeks to force the university to repeal actions it took against the plaintiffs’ employment statuses, recover damages from loss of employment and any other relief that would be considered just in this scenario.
Students sue Texas university, governor over Gaza protest arrests
Andrew Hay
Wed, April 30, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order banning transgender girls and women from participating in women's sports, at the White Hous
(Reuters) - Four current and former University of Texas at Austin students sued the college and Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday, alleging they faced unlawful arrest and retaliatory discipline for demonstrating against Israel's assault on Gaza.
The lawsuit is among a wave of legal actions against U.S. universities, law enforcement and state leaders over their handling of pro-Palestinian student protests that erupted in the Spring of 2024.
Filed in U.S. District Court in San Antonio by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) on behalf of the students, the lawsuit accuses UT Austin President Jay Hartzell, Abbott and law enforcement officers of intentionally suppressing pro-Palestinian speech at an April 24, 2024, campus protest.
According to the filing, Abbott, with the consent of Hartzell, ordered state police in riot gear to carry out mass arrests, violating protesters' First Amendment rights to assemble and express their opinions.
In response to the lawsuit, UT Austin spokesperson Mike Rosen referred to statements the university made after the arrests saying it acted to preserve campus safety, enforce protest rules, and that most arrests were of people from outside the university.
Abbott's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a social media post during the arrests, Abbott said: "Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas."
Two students named in the suit said they wanted to protect others from the physical and mental harm they had suffered.
"It is reclaiming our narrative because we were treated as antisemitic criminals," said Arwyn Heilrayne, a second-year student, who experienced a panic attack after she was knocked to the ground by police and had her wrists tightly zip-tied.
She has since had to leave an internship at the state legislature and been diagnosed with PTSD as a result of her arrest, she said.
Mia Cisco said suing the university took on a new urgency as she watched the Trump administration try to deport foreign students for their pro-Palestinian advocacy.
"It's really vital and crucial right now to make sure that that we say that it's not okay," said Cisco, a third-year student, who had her hijab forcibly removed by police following her arrest.
Dozens of demonstrators were taken into custody at the protest then released two days later after the Travis County Attorney's Office said charges were dropped due to a lack of probable cause.
All students arrested faced university disciplinary action, according to the lawsuit.
ADC Director Abed Ayoub saw most Americans, especially Texans, backing free speech for pro-Palestinian protesters.
"Governor Abbott and others are underestimating how much Americans value their First Amendment rights," said Ayoub.
(Reporting By Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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