Students claim the rules attack freedom of speech, while the University says it is just enforcing existing rules that require police permits for events and restrict participation to those affiliated with the University
Tel Aviv University has imposed stricter limitations on protests and other public activities on campus. The university said that a document issued last week brings together all the rules that have existed until now, and does not include any new restrictions. However, the university’s management views the document as part of a “new procedure,” according to information obtained by Haaretz.
Many students and faculty members said the limitations have been expanded, and they reflect the ongoing trend of harming freedom of expression on campus since October 7.
Some rules in the document released last week did not appear in previous documents or in the university regulations. They include requiring students to receive a police permit for cultural activities on campus. The document states that the police will review the activities according to sections of Israel’s anti-terrorism law, which prohibits identifying with a terrorist organization, incitement to terrorism and incitement to violence and racism.
Students who participated in activities conducted without a permit in the past may now find it difficult to receive a permit. In addition, events held on campus will be limited to 300 participants – and only students, faculty and university employees will be allowed to participate in them. The university has also banned the sale of tickets to public or cultural events and advertising them before official permission is received.
The document also states that only the student union will be able to set up stands on campus, and that it is not permitted to distribute written materials for “ecological” reasons. However, students and faculty have questioned the motivation to be more eco-friendly because the ban was first announced last year, after the Balad party’s student group handed out fliers that used the word “genocide.” Now the university has added a new rule banning passing out stickers on campus, too.
The document states that demonstrations will only be allowed in Entin Square, located next to the entrance to the campus, but outside the gates. Even though this rule is not new, students and faculty say it was not always enforced in recent years. “Sometimes security came and made trouble, and sometimes they didn’t,” said Dr. Anat Matar, a former senior lecturer in the philosophy department. “Many times, they simply stood on the side and let us demonstrate, and it was possible to hold quiet vigils on the grass without interference, exhibits or marches,” she said.
Demonstrations have been held on campus over the past five years. Not long ago, there was a protest against the firing of lecturers from the Faculty of Humanities, and during the Gaza war, faculty members organized silent protests against the war, which made it difficult for the university to stop them. Students say the attitude toward the faculty is different than the attitude toward students, and the university often claims it has a shortage in manpower to secure the demonstrations.
This is not the first time the university has imposed restrictions on protests over the past two years. Three days after the war in Gaza broke out, vice rector Prof. Eyal Zisser announced that students wouldn’t be allowed to organize rallies on campus – unless it was initiated by the university or the student union.
Tel Aviv University said in response that the rules have been implemented on campus for many years, and they are “nothing new. The university respects the freedom of expression on campus. Every week, including the present semester, a long list of events by Jewish and Arab student groups from the right and from the left are conducted – without any discrimination. The democratic space at the university has never been suspended, not even during the period of the war.”
The university said the document listing procedures for holding events was written at the request of various campus groups that wanted to consolidate the different guidelines that already exist into a single, organized document, to make it easier to explain to those wanting to hold events, and this is what was done. “Any other assertion misses the truth, not to say outright false,” it added.
“For over a decade, demonstrations have been held in Entin Square. This directive is coordinated with the city and the police. Organizers of the event are required to act according to the law and receive a permit under the circumstances set by law. And the police take care of security arrangements. Even the ban on distributing fliers on campus, and in practice any type of paper, has existed for over a decade, and this is for reasons of cleanliness and the environment,” said the university.