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NEW YORK — As students return to colleges across the United States, administrators are bracing for a resurgence of activism against the war in Gaza, and some schools are enacting rules to limit the kind of protests that engulfed campuses last spring.
Summer vacation has provided not only a respite for student demonstrations against Israel’s war with Hamas, but also a chance for student protesters and higher education officials to regroup and strategize for the fall semester.
The stakes remain high. Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned on Wednesday after coming under intense scrutiny for her handling of protests on the New York City campus last spring, when pro-Palestinian protesters held demonstrations at the university’s tent encampment.
Some of the new rules imposed by universities include banning camps, limiting demonstration times, allowing protests only in designated areas and restricting campus access to people with university identification cards. Critics say some of these measures will restrict free speech.
The American Association of University Professors issued a statement Wednesday condemning “overly restrictive policies” that could hamper free speech. Many of the new policies require protesters to register in advance, strictly limit where they can gather and set new limits on the use of megaphones and signs.
“Our colleges and universities should encourage, not suppress, open and robust dialogue and debate about even the most deeply held beliefs,” the statement said, adding that many policies are implemented without input from faculty.
The University of Pennsylvania has set new “interim guidelines” for student protests, including a ban on camping, overnight demonstrations and the use of megaphones and speakers after 5 p.m. on the school day. The university also requires posters and banners to be removed within two weeks of being posted. The school said it remains committed to free speech and lawful assembly.
A new “expressive activities policy” at Indiana University, which took effect Aug. 1, prohibits protests after 11 p.m. The policy prohibits “camping” and any type of shelter on campus, and prohibits the display of signs on university property without prior approval.
USF now requires permission to erect tents, canopies, banners, signs and megaphones. The school’s “speech, expression and assembly” rules prohibit any “activity,” including protests or demonstrations, after 5 p.m. on weekdays or on weekends, and not at all during the last two weeks of the semester.
A draft document obtained by Harvard’s student newspaper this summer showed that the college was considering banning overnight camping, chalk messages and unapproved signs.
“I think what we’re seeing right now is a resurgence of repression on campus that we haven’t seen since the late 1960s,” said Risa Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University and general counsel for the American Association of University Professors.
Universities say they encourage free speech as long as it does not interfere with learning, and insist they are simply updating existing rules on demonstrations to keep campuses safe.
Tensions have been rising on college campuses since Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages.
Many student protesters in the United States have vowed to continue their protests, which have been fueled by the rising death toll in Gaza, which surpassed 40,000 on Thursday, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
About 50 Columbia students still face disciplinary action after a mediation process that began early this summer stalled over last spring’s demonstrations, according to Mahmoud Khalil, the university’s lead negotiator for protesting students. He blamed the impasse on Columbia administrators.
“Universities like to appear to be in dialogue with students,” said Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. “But these are sham moves designed to reassure the donor community and its political class that they are safe.”
The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Earlier this year, the Ivy League school in Upper Manhattan was thrown into chaos by student demonstrations that culminated in police officers armed with zip ties and riot shields storming a building occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Similar protests have engulfed college campuses across the country, many of which have resulted in violent clashes with police and more than 3,000 arrests. Charges against many students arrested in the police crackdown have been dropped, but some are still awaiting decisions from prosecutors. Many have had their academic careers disrupted, including suspensions, withholding of diplomas and other forms of disciplinary action.
Shafik was among the university leaders called before Congress for questioning. She was harshly criticized by Republicans for not doing enough to address concerns about anti-Semitism on Columbia’s campus.
She announced her resignation in an email to the university community weeks before classes began on Sept. 3. The school began restricting access to campus to people with Columbia ID cards and registered visitors on Monday, saying it wanted to curb “potential disruptions” as the new semester approaches.
“This time has been very difficult for my family and others in the community,” Shafik wrote in the letter. “Over the summer, I have reflected and have decided that at this moment, it will best help Columbia overcome the challenges ahead if I move on.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters first set up tents on Columbia’s campus in mid-April when Shafik testified before Congress, condemning anti-Semitism but drawing criticism for how she responded to faculty and students accused of bias.
The next day, the school sent police to clear the tents, but the students returned and sparked a wave of similar protests on campuses across the country, with students calling on schools to cut financial ties with Israel and its war-supporting corporations.
The campus has been mostly quiet this summer, but a conservative news outlet in June published images of text messages it said were exchanged by administrators while they participated in a May 31 panel discussion titled “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future.”
The officials have been removed from their positions, and Shafiq said in a July 8 letter to the school community that the messages were unprofessional and “disturbingly touched upon age-old anti-Semitic rhetoric.”
Other prominent Ivy League leaders have resigned in recent months, largely over their response to violent protests on campus.
Liz Magill, the president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned in December after less than two years in the job. She faced pressure from donors and was criticized for her testimony at a congressional hearing, where she was unable to say under repeated questioning that calling for genocide against the Jewish people on campus would violate the school’s code of conduct.
In January, Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned amid criticism that she had plagiarized during her testimony before Congress.
Perry reported from Meredith, N.H., and Geick reported from San Francisco.
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