The University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK) has apparently not made any statements or actions as anti-Israel protesters continued to demonstrate past the school’s given deadline of May 11.
UTK allowed the People’s School for Gaza, which is not an official student organization at the university, to demonstrate on campus for about two weeks after starting on May 1, despite UTK’s rules for using its outdoor spaces. The school went so far as to reserve the space the protesters had been using, the Student Union Cumberland Plaza, on the group’s behalf.
The school’s reservation of the space for the People’s School for Gaza was set to end on May 11, by which time UTK was also supposed to have evaluated its time, place, and manner rules on expression, The Knoxville News Sentinel reported.
The Tennessee Star sent an email inquiry to UTK Monday morning asking how the school has evaluated its rules, whether it has extended its deadline for the People’s School for Gaza’s reservation of the plaza, and if the group has registered to become an official student organization. UTK did not reply before press time.
The People’s School for Gaza posted a schedule Monday morning detailing the day’s events on its Instagram page two hours before the first event on the schedule. The post specifies the events would take place on the “Student Union Lawn,” a name students use to refer to the Student Union Cumberland Plaza, and has events lasting from noon to 8 p.m.
UTK’s rules for reserving outdoor spaces state that spaces must be reserved with the university before being used for an event. The rules make a provision for “spontaneous” events, but the People’s School for Gaza’s demonstrations have lasted several hours and have been publicly scheduled hours in advance, as they were Monday.
The group has since made their demands of UTK publicly known, posting a list of them to Instagram on Saturday, May 11. It wants the university to divest from and cut ties with weapons manufacturers, disclose all its investments, permanently end its study abroad trips to Israel, and divest from Israeli companies.
The People’s School for Gaza apparently coordinates with another activist group, the Knoxville branch of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP-Knoxville). JVP-Knoxville posted to Instagram on May 10 about a joint event by itself and the People’s School for Gaza, and JVP-Knoxville’s Instagram page shows numerous posts about the People’s School for Gaza’s demonstrations.
JVP-Knoxville appears to not be an official student organization at UTK. However, JVP-Knoxville’s parent organization, some of whose funding can be traced back to left-wing billionaire George Soros, has chapters at colleges across the United States, including Vanderbilt University.
The Star sent an email inquiry to JVP-Knoxville asking how it is connected to the People’s School for Gaza and to confirm whether it is a UTK student organization but did not receive a response by press time.
On May 2, the second day of demonstrations at UTK, law enforcement reportedly appeared and dispersed the crowds of people. However, the activists remained on campus into the following night, and University of Tennessee Police arrested nine individuals, two of whom were not students, after school administration warned protesters they were in violation of the school’s rules.
The arrested students were reportedly released shortly after, and demonstrations continued. UTK has since warned protesters repeatedly against violating school rules, though the university has apparently taken no subsequent action to enforce them.
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.
Image “Pro Palestine Protest” by People’s School for Gaza.
