Nineteen were arrested at a pro-Palestine encampment and rally at the University of Utah Monday evening. Of that number, four were students and one a faculty member, according to the university.
The encampment was set up late in the afternoon in support of Gaza and students at other campuses. The Utah students also had their own demands for their school. Beyond the tents, the activities were peaceful with chanting, speakers, dancing, prayer and art.
After night fell, university police and other agencies, including West Valley City Police and Salt Lake City Police, warned the protestors to leave or they would face criminal consequences and “reasonable force.” Protestors did not budge and around 11 p.m., police in riot gear formed a line and moved — tearing down the tents, pushing participants with their shields and dragging some away.
In a statement, President Taylor Randall said at the university “you have an absolute right to express your opinion. You do not have the right to violate law or university policy. It is unlawful to set up structures or camp overnight on university property.” The president noted that attempts were made by the administration and the Academic Senate to connect with protestors. The message was that constitutional rights would be supported but an encampment would not be tolerated.
Mecha de University of Utah, a socialist student group focused on, among other things, “liberation for all colonized and oppressed people,” organized the protest. Gabriela Merida, a student and group organizer, said Randall’s comment was “disgusting,” because it did not mention “the brutal police force that was used against students.”
To her, it showed how little “regard the university administration actually has for students, and faculty and staff, and community members.” Merida said she is shaken, but the group will continue protesting.
During the night of the protest, after law enforcement removed the tents, officers faced the remaining, but smaller group of protestors. An organizer with Mecha announced the group would go home, but at least a dozen protestors stayed behind.
“It looks like a lot of [the people arrested] were community members and people that we’re not associated with Mecha. All Mecha organizers left when there was a call to disperse,” Merida said, referring to the organizer’s call to leave, not the order by police.
University spokesperson Rebecca Walsh said the school’s police department will review arrestees’ names and determine if they are a student. Walsh said detectives will also review body camera footage and then the police department will refer any charges to the Salt Lake City Prosecutor’s Office for consideration. The department will also refer student names to the Dean of Students for potential action, but Walsh said that could take a couple of months to happen, based on previous experience.
Additionally, the university will follow the same procedure it did in 2023 when nine students were charged with misdemeanors after “disrupting” an event held by a conservative club on campus. At least seven of those arrested were members of Mecha, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
“We are monitoring the situation on the University of Utah campus. We have not yet had anything submitted to our office related to last night’s protest and arrests,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill in a statement to KUER.
The ACLU of Utah also expressed concern over the official response to what they considered to be a “peaceful demonstration.”
“The University of Utah risked the safety and well-being of those directly involved as well as those in the area,” the statement read. “While authorities may enforce state laws and campus policies, we are gravely concerned that campuses and law enforcement nationwide are increasingly cracking down on political expression, rushing in police to arrest protestors, and authorizing aggressive treatment.”
From their perspective, “there was First Amendment value” to staging an encampment, said John Meija, the chapter’s legal director. He added the university should grant an “exception” to campus rules if students are practicing their First Amendment rights.
“If you can make an exception to your camping rule, you probably should. If you can try to speak to people and come to an agreement rather than talk to them through bullhorns, we would encourage that.”
As college campuses throughout the nation engage in similar protests, universities have been responding differently.
Utah’s elected leaders, like Senate President Stuart Adams, said on social media that while he defends “individuals' rights to exercise their First Amendment Constitutional rights,” there are “reasonable limits to protesting in place that ensure the safety of all students, faculty and law enforcement personnel.”
Less than 24 hours after the encampment was broken up by police, Mecha has scheduled another rally at the same spot and is renewing their call for their demands to be met. Meija said, in Utah’s case, “it sort of does come down to this question of how are we going to respond to First Amendment activity?”
“We would encourage state leaders to react in a way that is more protective of people's right to express themselves.”
