As groups of prospective students toured campus under the spring sun on Friday, the sound of drums and chants cut through the air: “Hey hey, ho ho, these policies have got to go!” Students, faculty and community members rallied at Alma Mater to protest the University’s policies on expressive activity.
“The University has created a culture of fear and repression on this campus, and we are here to show that we will not stand for it,” read a press statement by event organizers. “We demand that the University take action to protect our First Amendment rights.”
The University revised its policies on expressive activity after last April’s encampment, resulting in charges against nearly a dozen protestors. The revised policies include limiting the use of amplified noise, the distribution of materials and locations on campus available to protest.
The revised policies prompted the ACLU to issue a warning to University administration, saying the revisions were “problematic” and subjected students to “an unpredictable disciplinary regime.”
Gavin Volker, senior in ACES and co-chair of the University’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America, explained that to avoid retribution from the University, no individual organization sponsored the rally. Student and local advocacy groups worked together without explicitly attaching their names to the event.
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“There (are) no organizers, there (are) no logos, nothing like that, because we fear University pushback,” Volker said. “We are as compliant as possible, but we still fear some kind of repression.”
Volker points to a Students for Environmental Concern climate protest last September as the clearest example. Some student organizers were placed on academic hold and SECS was issued a four-year censure.
Volker noted that, until last semester, SECS had protested for over a decade without incident.
“They do a march every semester, telling the University that students want them to divest from fossil fuels,” Volker said. “They didn’t change anything this semester; the University is what changed.”
Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for strategic communications and marketing, upheld the administration’s response to the march in an email to The Daily Illini this February.
“The behaviors that occurred in September violated long-standing policies related to obstructing pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic and using a bullhorn within 50 feet of a classroom and the Turner Student Services building,” Kaler wrote.
Nina Stepaniants, senior in LAS and president of the University’s chapter of Amnesty International, spoke on a “chilling effect on expressive activity on campus” brought about by the University policy changes.
“(After) the climate strike last semester, (there was) a huge decline in protests, and — as the ACLU said — this is a direct result of the University purposefully cracking down and repressing student protest,” Stepaniants said.
University policy dictates without prior reservation, amplified sounds are prohibited on campus outside the hours of noon to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. In order to remain compliant, participants engaged in a “silent protest” from 11:30 a.m. to noon and gave speeches and performed chants from noon to 1 p.m.
Compared to organizers whose views reflect the “status quo,” Stepaniants said progressive causes have a more difficult time organizing under the University’s free speech policies.
“At the end of the day, when it comes to right-wing speakers like Charlie Kirk or pro-Israel demonstrations, it’s a lot easier to be within the rules because the structures of oppression are the status quo,” Stepaniants said. “If you want progressive students to express themselves, it cannot be done through reserving a space 14 business days in advance and calling UIPD beforehand.”
Speakers gave a dozen speeches during the window of noon to 1 p.m. Stepaniants gave a speech touching on the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, new campus protest guidelines and the University’s swift response to the paint found on Foellinger Auditorium.
Volker also gave a speech, at times specifically addressing present members of the I-Team. The organization is “a group of diverse staff members who help ensure expression of First Amendment rights at events on campus,” according to the University’s Strategic Communications and Marketing website.
University officials formed the I-Team in the summer before Fall 2024, following the April 2024 encampment.
“Their main job is to stand around and monitor every student protest, handing out disciplinary charges however they see fit,” Volker said, addressing the crowd.
But the I-Team does not have the authority to discipline students, according to Tyler Schaffer, a member of the I-Team present at Friday’s rally. He says they are instead tasked with using “de-escalation techniques.”
“We really can’t bring charges against students,” Schaffer said. “If they violate University rules, we usually make them aware — ‘You’re not following the Student Code’ — but we don’t have the power to punish students.”
Stepaniants maintains the primary “de-escalation technique” that the I-team performs is calling the police.
“It’s outlined in their roles to approach organizers and have an open dialogue and do de-escalation, but the only evidence of de-escalation I’ve seen is preemptively calling the cops, which to me is not de-escalation,” Stepaniants said.
Police were not called to the rally on Friday. Additionally, there were no interactions between students and members of the I-Team.
