Two University of Kansas students and the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine have filed a lawsuit against the university and top administrators, alleging the students were unfairly targeted and punished for participating in peaceful pro-Palestine protests last spring.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Douglas County District Court, claims KU officials violated the students’ constitutional rights by selectively enforcing campus policies to silence their political speech, while allowing other student groups with opposing viewpoints to continue demonstrating freely.
The lawsuit names KU, Chancellor Douglas Girod, Vice Provost for Student Affairs Tammara Durham and Senior Student Conduct Officer Phil Neuman as defendants.
Plaintiffs Linnaea Radley and Mya Hoersdig, both officers of Students for Justice in Palestine, say they were among dozens of students who took part in eight days of protests on Fraser Lawn in May 2024.
The demonstrations, which included tents, signs and student speeches, were part of a national movement calling for universities to divest from companies profiting from Israel’s war in Gaza. KU administrators and KU police began closely monitoring the group and organizing a response plan even before the demonstrations began, the lawsuit alleges.
On May 9, KU officials delivered a letter to the protesters declaring their activities, which had been acknowledged as protected free speech, would no longer be tolerated, according to the lawsuit. The letter cited upcoming commencement activities and warned that tents, amplified sound, tables and other materials would be removed. It imposed a 10 p.m. daily curfew and threatened disciplinary consequences for violations.
That night, KU police officers and outside law enforcement agencies enforced the curfew, issuing warnings and eventually arresting three students in the group. According to the lawsuit, no similar warnings or arrests were issued to a separate group of counterprotesters who were also present and “agitating” the pro-Palestine demonstrators.
The students later had their criminal charges dropped. None of those three students is named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
KU officials pursued disciplinary action against the protesters and SJP. Radley and Hoersdig were charged with violating university policies on disruption, camping and unregistered protest activity. The lawsuit alleges the charges were vague and shifted throughout the process, with administrators acting as both prosecutor and judge.
An internal university appeals panel later overturned most of the disciplinary findings, calling the sanctions “disproportionate.”
But last month, KU’s administration overrode the panel’s decision, reinstating sanctions that included placing the students on warning and labeling them “not in good standing.” The university claimed the appeals panel’s decision was only advisory.
The plaintiffs argue KU’s policies on camping and signage were applied in a discriminatory way. Though KU officials claimed signs on sticks violated university rules, the lawsuit says similar signs are regularly allowed at athletic events and were used by counter-protesters without consequence.
The lawsuit comprises four counts, including two alleging violations of First Amendment rights.
The students are seeking compensatory and special damages, attorneys’ fees and a declaratory judgment that KU’s actions violated their constitutional rights. They are also asking the court to reverse KU’s final disciplinary action and halt enforcement of the policies in question.
A KU spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The case was filed by Dan Curry and Sarah J. Duggan of the Kansas City, Missouri-based Brown, Curry and Duggan LLC.
If local news matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
Latest Lawrence news:
Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
