Penn students claim university ‘campaign of intimidation’ as they face disciplinary hearings for protests

The University of Pennsylvania has notified several students they will face disciplinary hearings for taking part in protests on campus — including one calling for the university to invest in a neighboring low-income housing complex whose residents are facing relocation.

At least nine students who have been involved in the protests have received notifications from Penn that they violated university rules, and at least one student was scheduled for a disciplinary hearing this week. Beyond the housing protests, students receiving notifications have also called on the Ivy League university to divest from fossil-fuel investments and pay payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTS).

Students who have received those notifications told The Inquirer they haven’t broken rules and are being singled out for protesting in solidarity with the Coalition to Save the UC Townhomes, a group that represents the 69 primarily Black and Latino families that are facing displacement from their homes at a nearby low-income housing complex.

» READ MORE: University City Townhomes residents now have until end of the year to find new low-income housing

Penn declined to comment, including on what type of disciplinary action could be doled out to students.

One protest interrupted the university’s freshman convocation ceremony in August, with student activists joining up with the coalition, which has called out Penn for what residents and supporters see as its role in the gentrification and displacement of West Philadelphia residents in what was once known as the Black Bottom area, a neighborhood of primarily Black families.

Penn does not own the townhomes and has no plans to purchase them or redevelop the site, but housing activists believe the university should step in because it has taken up more real estate in the neighborhood over time, and spurred development and gentrification.

» READ MORE: UCity McDonald’s finally succumbs to Penn’s redevelopment plans

Students who have been told they may be disciplined claim the notification and alleged monitoring of student actions by university officials, including with decibel meters and photos taken of students without their consent, are intimidation tactics to chill student speech.

“There’s been this coordinated campaign of intimidation by the university against student activists and student protesters. Particularly against protesters lobbying and fighting to save the UC Townhomes,” said Ari Bortman, a Penn engineering student who received a notification of a disciplinary hearing for his participation in the convocation protest.

Bortman and at least one other Penn student involved in the protest were notified they’d face disciplinary hearings, accused of having “interfered unreasonably with the activities of others.” Several others, including freshman Omar Elsakhawi, have also received notifications for an encampment started by Fossil Free Penn, an environmental group, early last month.

» READ MORE: https://www.inquirer.com/education/protest-students-college-campus-fossil-fuels-speakers-fraternities-20191223.html

It’s not clear what any discipline might be. In November 2019, protesters from Fossil Free Penn similarly interrupted a university event, chanting loudly at a board of trustees meeting. Then-provost Wendell Pritchett warned protesters that disrupting the gathering after repeated warnings to stop could result in disciplinary action, including a “permanent notation” on a student’s transcript.

In a letter supporting students, 73 faculty members cited similar charges the university brought against protesters from Fossil Free Penn in the spring. In April, students interrupted a forum moderated by Pritchett, then the interim president, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported.

The charges were ultimately dropped, and faculty members wrote in the letter that there were no grounds for them to have been brought in the first place.

Students and faculty referenced the university’s guidelines on open expression as proof students did not violate any rules. The guidelines state students have the right to “assemble and demonstrate peaceably in University locations” within the limits of the rules.

» READ MORE: Penn State wavers on funding for Center for Racial Justice, a key commitment after 2020 protests

Students like Bortman and Elsakhawi say that the university staff has used multiple tactics to “harass” and intimidate students.

Protesters have posted on social media that at least one university official was holding a decibel meter at a recent rally. Students believe the official was using the meter to see if the rally exceeded 85 decibels, which Penn deems an “unreasonable noise level” at which a rally can potentially be shut down.

Another tactic, students said, is categorizing rallies as “events,” a different designation under the university’s guidelines with different rules. Students would need to “suitably request” space and time for “events,” unlike with demonstrations.

In their letter, faculty members described the university’s actions as “an attempt at intimidation, an attempt to cause these student-activists, whom we admire, to give up on their urgent protest against ‘Penntrification,’ the continual displacement of minority residents of West Philadelphia/the Black Bottom, to suit the interests of big developers and their clients.”

Penn told those being disciplined that the hearings would be one-on-one, said Elsakhawi, whose hearing is scheduled for Friday, as opposed to previous ones held in a group setting. According to one of the letters sent by Penn, students are allowed to bring a member of the university community as an adviser, but Elsakhawi said the timing of the hearings has made it difficult to accommodate faculty advisers’ schedules.

The impending hearings have “been putting a great toll on us,” Elsakhawi said.