Almost four months after the Virginia State Police deleted a pro-Palestinian camp on the grounds, the university administration has revised several policies that restrict protests at the university and make it easier for them to break up protests on the grounds. The university announced The new policies were announced Monday morning in an article in U.Va. Today, followed by an email from Kenyon Bonner, vice president and chief student affairs officer, to students reiterating the changes.

Key components of the updated university policies include banning certain objects, such as tents, on campus (with the exception of a select few) and requiring masked individuals to identify themselves to authorized university officials when asked to do so, limiting the ability of protesters to avoid detection.

The issues surrounding protests and free speech on campus reached a peak in early May, when students, faculty and community protesters formed a camp to demand that the university divest from companies that profit from the ongoing Israeli military operation and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

The camp was cleared on May 4, when Virginia State Police, wearing riot gear and using pepper spray, forcibly dismantled the tents. arrest 27 protesters. University officials cited violations of the tent usage guidelines as the reason for the dispersal that day, although Timothy Longo, chief of the university police and vice president for safety and security, also subsequently referenced four men dressed in black as another explanation for the separation. Longo said two of the four men had been involved in acts of violence elsewhere in Virginia, but the university has not provided any further information on the identities of those individuals.

Governor Glenn Youngkin took a tough stance against the pro-Palestinian camps in Virginia that students formed on university campuses across the country. As at the university, police arrested Protesters at numerous other schools in Virginia, with Youngkin saying he would not tolerate the same forms of protests that have been going on for some time on campuses in other states.

According to Bonner’s email, the university released the policy updates in response to feedback the administration received in the spring that criticized the clarity and lack of communication with which the university listed and implemented its policies related to protests.

Bonner said in the email that students can continue to demonstrate on campus as long as they do not disrupt university operations, violate university policies or laws. He added that all policies are designed to focus on how members of the university community speak or engage in expressive behavior, not the content of their messages.

“All new and existing policies are viewpoint-neutral time, place and behavior restrictions,” Bonner said in the email. “They reflect the university’s commitment to protecting your constitutionally protected rights to free speech and expression while maintaining a safe atmosphere and ensuring that the grounds are equally open and accessible to all members of the university community as we maintain normal university operations.”

One of the university’s newly implemented policies requires mask wearers on campus to carry an ID or otherwise identify themselves to a university official when asked. Bonner said costumes for holidays and theatrical performances, religious or cultural clothing, and face coverings for certain professions or occupations are exempt from this policy. Some critics of pro-Palestinian protests and encampments in Virginia have cited a law that prohibits wearing masks in public with the intention of concealing identity, which was initially seen as a means of prevention Ku Klux Klan activities in the state.

Associate Professor of Education Walter Heinecke said the new mask requirement was an overly restrictive attempt by the university to crack down on protests at the university.

“They are making it easier to arrest students by saying, ‘If you wear a mask and don’t show us your ID, you could be arrested’ … it’s overly restrictive, it goes too far, and it’s designed to silence public protests,” Heinecke said.

The university also changed the guidelines for permissible locations for protests, defining the boundary of Academical Village as land surrounded by University Avenue and McCormick Road, including the site near the chapel where the May 4 encampment took place. Because of its historic nature, restrictions on use of Academical Village are particularly strict, prohibiting tables and tents without explicit permission.

Camping on site – an act not explicitly defined in the policy – is now also expressly prohibited. Additional rules prohibit sleeping outdoors between midnight and 6 a.m. No tent may be left up during this time unless it is being used by the university or for official university events, and no tent may be used for more than 18 hours at a time.

The university’s guidelines on the use of tents received criticism in the days surrounding the evacuation of the camp, when found that an Office of Environmental Health and Safety document on fire regulations for tents was changed the morning before the eviction, which would have apparently exempted the camp from a tent permit. University administration later said that the clause in that document was inaccurate and inconsistent with existing university policy, which necessary All tents require a permit before they can be used on site.

The updated guidelines also state that no events of any kind are permitted on campus between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. and that, unless it is a university event – such as lighting the lawn – no images may be projected onto any university facility or property.

Fourth-year student Anushka Dar said she was concerned about the impact of the policy changes, as well as how their implementation could affect students from marginalized communities, such as students of color or students with disabilities — communities she said are particularly likely to be affected by restrictions on mask-wearing. She added that the policies, while not unexpected, seemed to contradict the values ​​of student self-government.

“It seems hypocritical and goes against what the school stands for,” Dar said. “As a student body, we should control the decisions that affect our daily lives.”

University spokeswoman Bethanie Glover said the new policies were drafted in consultation with the Faculty Senate Policy Committee. But Heinecke disputes that claim. He said the policies do not appear to have been updated in a way that promotes shared governance, the faculty-administration principle. Split Responsibility for the activities of the university.

“It is standard practice and norm at the University of Virginia that any changes to university policies must undergo a review process. The Faculty Senate Policy Committee receives the draft and then sends it to the constituents – all faculty members – for 30 days to voice their opinion,” Heinecke said. “It doesn’t appear that that happened.”

Finn Trainer contributed to reporting this article.