UT Austin Students File Lawsuit Following Arrests and Disciplinary Action Linked to Pro-Palestinian Protest

May 1, 2025 TruthUSA

Texas Governor Greg Abbott criticized the protests and called for state police to clear the campus encampment.

Four current and former students of the University of Texas–Austin are taking legal action against the university and the state over their arrests and disciplinary measures related to pro-Palestinian protests held on campus last year.

The lawsuit, submitted on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, claims that the students’ First Amendment rights were violated when Texas Governor Greg Abbott, alongside UT Austin President Jay Hartzell, summoned state police to dismantle a protest encampment in April 2024.

More than 130 individuals were arrested during these protests, which were part of a nationwide movement opposing Israel’s military response to the attacks by the Hamas terrorist group on October 7, 2023.

Abbott condemned the protests at that time and called for the expulsion of students involved.

“These protesters belong in jail,” he stated in a post on X. “Students participating in hate-filled, anti-Semitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.”

Those arrested faced charges of criminal trespassing; however, the Travis County Attorney’s Office chose not to pursue prosecution. In July, UT Austin indicated that the students’ actions warranted suspension but offered a form of deferred suspension, which would allow them to remain enrolled and keep this disciplinary action off their final transcripts, provided they passed a test on university policies and waived their right to appeal.

Over a year after the protests, the four plaintiffs claimed they “suffered physical injuries, lived in fear of further punishment, and were directly targeted due to anti-Palestinian bias.”

Their complaint states that police enforced an “arrest quota” and used “excessive crowd-control tactics,” which included tackling students, zip-tying them tightly enough to bruise them, and forcibly removing a Muslim student’s headscarf.

The students have also criticized the university’s disciplinary measures, saying that arrested protesters were placed on administrative hold while deciding whether to accept the probation offer, and those who declined and appealed unsuccessfully would face suspension for a year.

According to the lawsuit, each of the four students “reluctantly accepted the offer of deferred suspension or probation, fearing harsher sanctions or a lengthy disciplinary process.”

The students are asking the court to declare that the actions by the university and governor are unconstitutional, to reverse all disciplinary measures, and to award punitive damages along with attorney’s fees.

The lawsuit is being pursued by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, an advocacy group that previously joined three Cornell University students in challenging a pair of executive orders from President Donald Trump aimed at tightening student visa vetting and addressing “anti-Semitic harassment and violence.” That case was ultimately dismissed after the lead plaintiff, Momodou Taal, voluntarily departed the United States before immigration authorities could initiate his deportation.

Neither UT Austin nor Abbott’s office responded to requests for comment.

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