Free speech in NJ — Rutgers requires permits for expression

✅ Pro-Palestinian protests took place at Rutgers and Princeton in April & May

✅ Rutgers University created a website with the school's "free expression" policies

✅ Princeton University would not disclose if any protocols have changed

Rutgers University is taking steps to better handle potential student campus protests this fall.

A pro-Palestinian encampment on the Voorhees Mall came to an end in early May when the leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine reached an agreement with Rutgers on many of their demands. One of the demands not met was to divest the university from Israel.

The school was later criticized for "caving in" to anti-Semitic troublemakers and not ensuring the safety of all students.

Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway was summoned to a congressional hearing where he defended how the school handled the protest. Four students were suspended at Rutgers but no arrests were made, Holloway said.

“We made a choice — that choice was to engage our students through dialogue as a first option instead of police action,” Holloway said. “We had seen what transpired at other universities and sought a different way.”

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Free Expression for Rutgers–New Brunswick Students explains it all

At the center of Rutgers' new protest protocols is a website called Free Expression for Rutgers, which launched Tuesday. The site is designed to "clearly state the university’s policies and guidance on free expression on campus; academic freedom; demonstration and protest rules; student and employee conduct; and other relevant information in one easily accessible online space," according to a statement from the school.

It was announced in an email to the Rutgers community from Holloway on Monday in which he called for the school to be a "model for the nation in civil discourse, in listening, and in civic engagement" while keeping all safe.

"Universities like ours will continue to be arenas in which competing ideas play out and where new ideas are formed. And that’s a good and essential thing. But in that quest for truth, in this marketplace of ideas, we must commit ourselves to understanding each other—even around difficult issues and even if we disagree strongly. As I have argued before, we need to recognize and embrace our shared humanity, with all its messiness and contradictions," Holloway said.

The site states that Rutgers "will not move to silence any viewpoints on any issues" as long as the viewpoint is "within the bounds of the law and university policy. Our university is a community of diverse ideas, organizations, and perspectives."

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Guidelines highlighted by Rutgers

• The establishment of designated public forum areas on each Rutgers campus
• The procedure for scheduling a demonstration
• Submitting a "Free Expression Notification Form" three business days ahead of an event in order to obtain a Free Expression Permit
• Defining the procedure for protesting a speaker or event
• Establishing standards for setting up tables, posting flyers, writing messages in chalk and use of signs.

A pro-Palestinian protest lasted for 21 days at Princeton University in April and May. It ended amidst allegations by organizers that school President Christopher Eisgruber did not engage in "meaningful negotiations."

None of the protests' demands were met by the Ivy League university.

Princeton University would not disclose to New Jersey 101.5 if any protocols or procedures for campus protests will be in place for the new academic year.

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