Ammer Qaddumi was arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest at UT-Austin on April 24, 2024.
Michael Minasi/KUT
hide caption
toggle caption
Michael Minasi/KUT
Ammer Qaddumi was arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest at UT-Austin on April 24, 2024.
Michael Minasi/KUT
AUSTIN– Ammer Qaddumi jumps up and down to the beat of a drum.
In one hand he holds a rolled up piece of paper which he moves to the rhythm of the crowd’s singing.
“Disclose, divest, we won’t stop, we won’t rest,” he chants alongside hundreds of University of Texas students on Austin’s South Lawn.
Qaddumi is a Palestinian-American studying economics and government, and for the past few weeks he has been participating in protests against Israeli military actions in Gaza.
Israel responded to the October 7 Hamas attack, which killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 200 people hostage.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war in Gaza.
“We have a duty to defend Palestine, to ensure that people understand the narrative, the Palestinian narrative, the history of the Palestinian struggle,” Qaddumi told NPR on Sunday.
The protests at UT-Austin have been mostly peaceful, although tensions have at times increased and students have been arrested, including Qaddumi, who was the first person arrested nearly two weeks ago.
“We will continue to defend Palestine, no matter what obstacles the UT administration and our state government try to put in our way,” Qaddumi said.
Ammer Qaddoumi
Michael Minasi/KUT
hide caption
toggle caption
Michael Minasi/KUT
The charges against Qaddumi were later dropped. Most of the students arrested were charged with criminal trespass.
Brian Davis, a University of UT-Austin spokesperson, told NPR in an email that the students violated several institutional rules, including attempting to establish an encampment, unauthorized use amplified sound and jostling of staff. However, no students have been charged with assault.
It is unclear whether these students would be placed on probation, suspended or expelled.
Davis said no disciplinary action has been taken, but it could occur once final exams are completed this week.
Sam Law, a Jewish American graduate student, was arrested after participating in a pro-Palestinian protest at UT-Austin. He was charged with criminal trespass and now worries about possible punishment.
“As a person of conscience, I cannot let such threats discourage me,” Law told NPR from his home in Austin. “I am truly concerned and have had numerous conversations with my department chair and with attorneys about what might happen if the university pursues disciplinary action.”
According to the Associated Press, there have been more than 2,000 arrests on college campuses in connection with pro-Palestinian protests and encampments.
The disciplinary actions taken by universities are unknown – some have cited federal education privacy laws for not providing figures on the number of students subject to disciplinary action.
But some students shared their stories.
Cornell University divestment protesters set up this encampment on the university’s Arts Quad.
Jacob Mack/USA Today Network/Reuters
hide caption
toggle caption
Jacob Mack/USA Today Network/Reuters
Cornell University divestment protesters set up this encampment on the university’s Arts Quad.
Jacob Mack/USA Today Network/Reuters
Momodou Taal, a doctoral student at Cornell University, was suspended for participating in a pro-Palestinian encampment.
“The school considered my activity or participation on campus to be a threat in some way,” Taal said.
Taal was never arrested, but his involvement in a pro-Palestinian team negotiating with Cornell University administrators got him suspended, he said.
He now finds himself in a rather unique situation. Taal is a British student and a suspension could cause him to lose his international student visa.
“Basically, I risked everything I have risked so far for what I believe to be a just cause, which is the Palestinian cause,” Taal said.
In a written response to NPR, Cornell University said the students were offered the opportunity to have their suspensions lifted.
“The university has determined that if a student could agree to abide by the terms of the temporary suspension and not facilitate, engage in, participate in, or assist in any other violation of university policy, it would be appropriate to modify the temporary suspension to allow incomplete applications to be enrolled for the spring 2024 term,” said Joel M. Malina, Cornell’s vice president for university relations.
“This would provide an opportunity for the student to complete coursework and earn credit for the term at a later date when the student is able to resume academic activities.”
Taal thinks about his options. He said he was guided by his conscience and that participating in the protests was the right thing to do.
Anna Ivey, former dean of admissions at the University of Chicago Law School, said suspensions and expulsions could have serious consequences since they remain in students’ academic records.
“You’ll probably have to disclose it somewhere when you’re trying to find other alternatives and move on with your life,” said Ivey, who owns a company that advises students on applying to college.
But disciplinary action does not necessarily end students’ careers.
“I think many admissions officers look in horror at the way students are treated,” Ivey said. “So I don’t think they should assume that they’re necessarily going to be met with hostility or that people aren’t even going to look at the circumstances.”
Someone thinking about what’s next is Nick Wilson, a suspended undergraduate student at Cornell University.
He was one of the students arrested in March for occupying an administrative building.
He said it was frightening to learn of the disciplinary action Cornell was taking against him.
“What’s happening in Gaza is so striking, such a moral atrocity,” Wilson said from his on-campus housing. “For me and for students like me – students who face police violence, students who risk arrest, students who face suspension – this is a cause that simply matters more.”
Wilson and the other students said they would do it again, as long as their universities refused to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
NPR News
