Editor’s Note: Student X is one of nine students of the “UTD 21,” the 21 students, faculty and community members arrested at the May 1 encampment. Student X is currently facing both academic and legal litigation because of their arrest. Due to the exceptional circumstances they face, The Mercury has granted their request for anonymity in the submission of this opinion editorial. 

During the week of July 15, UTD’s Office of Community Standards and Conduct, under the leadership of Dean of Students Amanda Smith, held disciplinary meetings with the nine students who were arrested May 1 at UTD’s Gaza Liberation Plaza. In these meetings, conduct specialists informed students of the sanctions UTD plans to place on them for allegedly violating the Student Code of Conduct. Having already found the students responsible for those violations without presenting any evidence, they outlined a set of sham options students had for moving forward. The sanctions are as follows — all quotations are taken directly from UTD’s representatives as spoken in the meetings:

UTD is subjecting graduated students to what they call “denial of degree” until Dec. 13, 2024, meaning that UTD will “not acknowledge” that a student has graduated for another semester. These students have already walked at graduation, been awarded their degrees, received their diplomas in the mail and can order official transcripts; clarification was absolutely needed for the phrasing “not acknowledge.” Upon request, UTD gave the example that if an outside party — like a grad school or a job offer — calls the school to ask, “Has Student X graduated yet?” the school can say, “No, not yet,” until the student’s faux graduation date. UTD administration has authorized the use of deceit to, put simply, lie about a student’s graduation status. It would be comical if it wasn’t outrageous, because as dumb as the sanction is, it is alarming they thought fraudulence was the correct route to take. The administration’s pettiness exhibits a significant need for power.

UTD is offering current students — those with at least one semester remaining before graduation — deferred suspension. This allows students to enroll in classes while on probation; however, if UTD deems they have violated any other policies, they will be automatically suspended. To understand the purpose of these sanctions UTD is putting on students, it is crucial to explain them within the context of what caused them: the students’ calls for UTD to divest. The Gaza Liberation Plaza was a pure expression of this call for humanity.

The divestment campaign calls for UTD to divest their endowment funds from weapons manufacturing companies which supply every single missile the Israeli Occupation Forces use to carpet bomb Gaza. UTD has gained a reputation for targeting activist organization Students for Justice in Palestine with heavy police presence at on-campus events to intimidate and surveil them because of this divestment campaign. On May 15, UTD issued two arrest warrants for SJP’s then-president — who was also one of the nine students arrested on May 1 — after he attended his own graduation and waved a Palestinian flag with the painted statement ‘DIVEST FROM DEATH.’ Two other graduates arrested May 1 with the same bond conditions as the former SJP president graduated that week but faced no penalties, and numerous other graduates displayed Palestinian flags. As student demands for divestment become widespread, UTD’s reactionary use of the state’s enforcers to target students campaigning for divestment reveals the stark contrast between the administration and the progressive image they hope to maintain.

Enter the state of Texas’s governor Greg Abbott. Abbott’s anti-Palestinian executive order GA-44, signed March 27, is deeply informative for understanding why UTD is using unprecedented tactics of repression on its students. GA-44 serves as a literal command to Texas universities to suppress expressions calling for Palestinian liberation under the premise that expressing such ideas are “acts of antisemitism” and, consequently, expressions of hate. This is a profoundly racist misrepresentation because it conflates the idea that wanting peace for Palestinians that are being massacred is offensive to Jews. In reality, it is only offensive to zionists who view the colonization of Palestinian land and people as acceptable and carry it out with brutal violence for their gain. Greg Abott exhibits Zionist behavior and has used his authority  to influence UTD administration to protect investments that allow this ideology to thrive at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian people; because, in a racist, capitalist and violent way, it is incredibly profitable for those who exploit it. GA-44 calls specifically for SJP to be “disciplined” for their anti-Zionist stance and officially mandates “appropriate punishments, including expulsion” for any student who expresses this type of dissent. The order has gone into effect as of June 27, but it was notably issued before students were arrested. The students and their lawyers now exhaust themselves in the ruse that is UTD’s academic disciplinary process.

Given encouragement from the state, UTD has set a precedent with these sanctions to inconclusively finger point and then drag any student that administration sees as problematically expressing their views on Palestine and divestment into a draining bureaucratic process, before it spits them out on a tightrope or complete suspension; it has been nearly three months since May 1 and UTD has not presented any evidentiary findings, even during the disciplinary meetings, that anyone violated policy. Now that June 27 has passed, perhaps UTD can spam this accusatory finger pointing at anyone who utters a word of support for Palestine. However likely they are to do that, and with specific penalties yet unknown, UTD ultimately still needs both tuition payments, from their majority minority-made student body to keep the university functioning and a progressive image  to not disaffect the faculty and students the university is composed of. Deferred suspension is the perfect in between for UTD, as it can coerce students to fall in line whilst keeping the university paid and shielding them from accusations of heavy handedness that come with harsher academic disciplining. In the case of the arrested students, the sanction serves the same purpose but is used more insidiously by UTD when taking into account the bond conditions of pending criminal charges. 

Given the bond conditions that the Collin County judge placed on students prior to their release from jail, continuing students are prohibited from entering campus except for “attending class and class-related activities only.” UTD could free students of these restrictions by requesting the Collin County district attorney drop the charges altogether. Instead, UTD refuses to do so, alludes to students as violent criminals in faculty senate meetings, and then, in student meetings, claims to be completely separate from the criminal process — that UTD had five separate militarized law enforcement agencies including state troopers on speed dial. UTD’s deliberate negligence in not helping their students ensures that the bond conditions are held indefinitely, which is akin to inflicting intentional harm by having the students contend with an ever-present threat of arrest by UTDPD as they navigate campus in their everyday life, just as any other student would.

The insidiousness is that UTD uses the image of deferred suspension being completely reasonable, as they can then retaliate against the students with police terror on a constant basis and hide this fact in plain sight, with the cover that they are merciful managers for not suspending students completely. Abbott’s executive order now makes it clear to everyone that UTD works in conjunction with the state and acts as a disciplinary arm of it, in a reciprocal relationship, by having students continue their education with unresolved criminal trespass charges. The cases need to be dropped by Aug. 19, the start of fall semester less than a month away, to prevent this outcome. If UTD had any penchant for mercy towards their students and the people that love them, they would have made the deferred suspension sanction temporary from the outset, considering the continued public outcry and immense pressure put on them by the community since day one. Some students still have three years ahead of them, so this is nothing other than malicious, if not vicious behavior from UTD. In classic administration fashion, UTD however chooses to feign awareness of the effect their actions will have on its students.

To UTD administration. The students of third-world diaspora, color, and conscience, who have been in this fight for years, understand that pulling the knife of colonialism from their backs is a difficult and painful process, but until it is over with, healing cannot happen. In the process of pulling the knife out that your administration fights tooth and nail to keep pressed, your liberal image may fool a few donors, but no one else.

UTD’s vague excuse that the charges are left up to the district attorney creates a false image that they are somehow incapable of stepping out of the boundaries of their neat little sandbox and are merely doing the work of enforcing disciplinary measures per university policies. The point of this facade is so UTD administration can distance themselves from the effects the bond conditions will have on continuing students; because UTD administration — as managers of a university that is supposed to be safe, equitable and inclusive, that is not supposed to enact public outbursts of violence like it did May 1 — instead of rehabilitating and remediating their faults, attempted to bury them deeper to please the part of themselves that is being soul sucked by greed and death. Unfortunately, the students who catch flack for this expression of twisted chaos are those of Muslim and Arab origin — and those who support their struggle — because the root issue of imperialism and colonialism as it relates to Palestine seeks to proliferate itself on the land and the people that are from that part of the world. Of course, it isn’t a simple issue, since the issues of imperialism ripple out everywhere and other factors ripple back into it;  the point is, UTD cannot accept responsibility or must defer blame to “criminals” because if they do not do either of these things, they would no longer be a university but something more sinister, considering this is what students face when they attend. Sinister enough that, without getting into too much detail, when pushed far enough to quit their malevolent itch, they would choose to load up their own students into an armada of trucks and then have them cordoned off from society in a crowded jail too full for most inmates to get a bed. Sinister enough that, when students get out of jail the next day because of community mobilization, the next-best tactic to keep students away whilst keeping an accepting image as the perfect university that they’d like to be, is what is playing out before our eyes. It becomes evident that in collusion with the state, UTD’s playbook is beyond simply disciplining students for “policy violations,” but to paralyze and instill paranoia in them if they do not leave the institution of their own accord and to make an example of them for the collective conscience of the student body in attempts to immobilize all on-campus organizing for Palestine and for divestment.

UTD administration, to their own detriment, has reactionarily allowed a remarkable nine among 21 others to become examples of emboldened figures of revolutionary resistance, and the six student leaders who are returning will be spiritedly welcomed, protected and held in high regard by the student body beginning fall semester. What all UTD students need to realize is the offered sanctions, combined with the austere bond conditions, places these students in a vulnerable position where the university can penalize and sanction everyday actions they take to get them suspended or re-arrested. UTD, in combination with the state, has invariably tried to create Texas universities’ first cohort of second-class students based on their activism for Palestine. The point is not made to draw parallels or misguided pity, rather, it serves to be understood so keen discernment and action can be applied to mitigate any negative realities that could unfold in its wake. All students need to check in with each other often, student organizations need to build rapport with each other and UTD’s faculty and student community should be tight knit against this retaliation. Heightened awareness and shared community will be student’s best friends. The student movement for divestment grows and the contradictions of administration’s lies, deceptions and violence are increasingly prominent against the image of cleanliness they could have only hoped to uphold. 

Upon reentry, continuing students, courtesy of UTD admin, can expect to endure police surveillance, targeting and mobility restrictions that bar them from engaging in any extracurricular activities on-campus or for wandering too long, alongside suppression of free expression for everyone and extended scrutinization from the gaze of an autocratic administration daring them to misstep. The sanctions are just the catalyst for this marginalizing process that, to reiterate from earlier, is meant to seem reasonable. The erosion of these students’ fundamental freedoms are occurring in real time, and with UTD’s power trip from the state, de jure constraints become cause for de facto targeting. UTD already incorporates a level of discrimination in its operations, but the specific actions they have taken since May 1 take the university to a completely new level.

On a final note not free of solemnity, UTD administration makes severe examples of the continuing students internally, then makes a mockery of compassion by offering them mental health resources at every turn of the disciplinary process. At worst, this is an attempt to entrap students who may be struggling with their mental health and incarcerating them under the pretense of self-protection. At best, this is still not a consolation for investing in a genocide that is killing students’ families, nor for requiring students to constantly look over their shoulder on their own campus. The individual trauma UTD is putting on its students is maladaptive for the entire student community. In the spirit of new beginnings, questions arise of what other malfeasances UTD administration is enabling if they are capable of such conduct; forming a student club to document administration’s behavior in responding to student crises, say, Administration Conduct Oversight for Reprobate Negligence or ACORN, a nod to the squirrels, to serve as an oversight board or community watch would be a wonderful idea. UTD’s administrators have shown everyone that radical change and accountability is needed, and that this change towards accountability will be the same that presides over their dismissal.

The students facing these sanctions and criminal charges continue to demand the university divest from weapons manufacturers that are actively massacring Palestinians and destroying Palestinian society. The goal of sharing the sanctions is to expose the nascent fascism of former educators turned arrogant bureaucrats, as they work in tandem with the state to more than just silence — but to instill real fear in a movement of students that threaten the flow of blood money fueling old-school colonialism and genocide. Instead of listening to the student body, UTD administration enacts increasingly distressing measures on its students of color and conscience for demanding divestment. UTD administration is solidifying themselves as coercive, xenophobic, unstable and profoundly racist through the actions they choose to take and not to take. President Richard Benson and Smith are responsible for their duplicity to create a sullen menace of covert and psychological oppression on campus stemming from the events of May 1, and should resign else their hypocrisy make itself more apparent in the day-to-day lives of the students. This repression harms the entire UTD community, and it is an attack on all students with ties to lands affected by the damaging legacy of colonization everywhere. UTD, divest now.

To students and to faculty who see the administration for who they have shown themselves to be: you are stronger together. To UTD administration: drop the charges, drop the sanctions and divest now. These are our demands. More blood need not flow than is necessary; the knife’s removal is imminent and it is occurring right now.

On their official website, UTD “acknowledges the history and legacy of colonization” and “recognize[s] the history of UT Dallas begins with the forced removal of the indigenous people through the legacy of colonization.” Indeed, UTD participates in the legacy of colonization and forced removal of indigenous people that is funded by their investments. UTD covers up this truth by using words like “acknowledge” and “recognize” to come off as socially progressive when they are actually engaged in the barbaric practices of forced removal and genocide today. This is similar to their usage of the words “not acknowledge” and “denial” to actually mean “lie” in regards to the sanctions put on graduated students. Questions then arise about the authenticity of UTD’s other socially progressive gestures, their willingness to exploit them and their inability to be upfront. 

Consider UTD’s investments in General Dynamics, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Gruman and Boeing, the so-called “defense contractors” whom UTD makes a buck off whenever the companies sell weapons to the Zionist IOF that allow their advanced form of pillaging to desecrate Palestine. General Dynamics in particular makes 2,000-pound MK-80s twenty minutes out from UTD that obliterate Gaza cities and have been used to bomb a refugee camp. These same “defense contractors” use forced prison labor to make their weapons, exploiting people of color who are disproportionately affected by mass incarceration in what is known as the prison-border-industrial complex, and utilizes modern-day slavery. Modern-day abolitionists have taken up the continued cause to end this racially capitalistic oppressive system that is knotted with colonialist pursuits. Recently, UTD has put up banners around campus claiming “UTD Celebrates Juneteenth.” Landmark progress is a joy meant to be celebrated. Co-opting such “celebration,” in the case of UTDs’ administration’s rising stock prices for their endowment fund, is rejected entirely.

Free the people, free the land and free Palestine.