Wayne State University prevented a group of peaceful pro-Palestinian activists, including students and professors, from gathering at a campus site, the latest example of the college cracking down on opponents of Israel’s relentless killings in the Middle East.
Organizers were surprised when campus police told them on Friday they were not allowed to hold their vigil and pop-up clinic in front of the Mazurek Medical Education Commons on East Canfield, less than two months after they got permission for their biweekly gatherings. The activists weren’t impeding traffic or creating loud noises and had just been setting up when an officer approached them shortly before 11 a.m., says Dr. Thomas Pedroni, a tenured Wayne State professor.
Wayne State officials ordered students and faculty to clear out their vigil and clinic, which included a single table, twice in January, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan to get involved. In a Feb. 4 letter to university officials, staff attorneys for the ACLU noted that Wayne State has no policies prohibiting students and faculty from meeting in outdoor campus spaces. The university also lacks a consistent policy on how to reserve space.
“The organizers’ experiences with organizing this recurring Vigil reveals the detrimental effect of this lack of clarity and consistency in Wayne State’s campus use and space reservation policies,” attorneys Ramis J. Wadood and Philip E. Mayor wrote. “Without action, Wayne State’s policy framework may unwittingly lead to the suppression of constitutionally protected speech activity.”
Two days later, Vice Provost Darryl Gardner acknowledged in an email to Pedroni that the university’s policies on using outdoor space “could be clearer” and said the vigil could take place.
"If the vigil should happen to spill on to campus immediately adjacent to the sidewalk, as long as it does not impede university access or operations, and as long as the event is not stationary for a period of more than two hours, and as previously stated, otherwise complies with the law, it will be permitted," Gardner wrote.
Until Friday, demonstrators had gathered peacefully without any intervention from the university since then. Why officials decided to crack down last week remains a mystery to demonstrators. They came with signs that read, “Stop funding genocide,” “Stop murdering children,” and “Stop killing patients.”
In an email to the vice provost, Pedroni asked what had changed. As of 2 p.m. Monday, he did not receive a response. Neither did Metro Times when it requested an explanation.
A few days before the vigil was planned, Israel pounded Gaza with rockets, marking the first large-scale military action since a ceasefire began in January. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in less than a week.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians, about 80% of whom were civilians. That doesn’t include the countless number of Palestinians who have died from malnutrition and water-borne illnesses.
At a time like this, Pedroni says the university should be encouraging engagement.
“Many of these students have very real connections to the genocide and have a natural desire to speak and do something about it,” Pedroni says. “Now the university is going beyond its own policies to chill students’ rights to express themselves.”
Wayne State’s actions come as the Trump administration threatens to deport foreign-born students who sympathize with Palestinians. On March 8, immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident of Palestinian descent who was a Columbia University grad student and a prominent voice in campus protests against the war in Gaza.
“That is one of the fears – that this will happen to one of our students,” Pedroni says.
When Pedroni notified activists that police were breaking up the gathering, some didn’t show up.
“We’re in a moment right now where there are threats to students who are here on visas and show up to a protest,” Pedroni says. “There is a big difference between going to a vigil where police say you can be there and one where you are facing potential arrest if you are there.”
In an email to university officials, Wayne Academic Union President Dr. Jennifer Sheridan Moss criticized the administration’s handling of public space gatherings, noting that Pedroni and others have a right to protest.
“The University is acting in bad faith in this matter and it is beyond time for it to be resolved,” she wrote. “Free speech and academic freedom are the cornerstones of universities, and must be preserved in all instances without intervention of police.”
Pro-Palestinian activists have accused Wayne State of repeatedly trying to silence them. In April 2024, plainclothes cops forcibly removed students from the Wayne State University Board of Governors meeting, where they were demanding the school divest from companies linked to Israel. More than 100 faculty and staff members denounced the action as a “racist assault.”
Then in May 2024, campus police in riot gear resorted to violence to remove pro-Palestinian activists from campus. About six peaceful protesters were arrested, but Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy decided not to charge them, saying they were engaged in free expression.
After pro-Palestinian activists said they planned to attend a public Board of Governors meeting in June 2024, the elected board went virtual for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. By doing so, the board avoided face-to-face encounters with student and faculty protesters
