Two students sued the University of Colorado on Monday, alleging school leaders violated their free speech and due process rights by temporarily barring them from the Boulder campus after they participated in a peaceful pro-Palestine protest at a university job fair.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver by attorney Dan Williams with Hutchinson Black and Cook LLC, alleges students Max Inman and Mari Rosenfeld were singled out by the university and retaliated against based on their demonstration in support of Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war.
CU Boulder issued an order that excluded Rosenfeld and Inman from campus for any reason other than attending classes, according to the federal complaint. The order was in place for nearly two months.
“The interim exclusion from campus prohibited Plaintiffs from engaging in First Amendment protected activity on campus and outside of the classroom,” the lawsuit stated.
CU Boulder spokesperson Nicole Mueksch declined to comment on the lawsuit because the university has not yet been served. “Once it has been served, the campus must review it and determine the appropriate course of action,” she said in a statement.
“Universities have been at the forefront of student peace protests for generations,” Williams said. “Somehow, when Israel began attacking Gaza the way it did, universities decided that was where they were going to draw the line and attempt to block and stop student protest, but the law is well established that student protests are legal and appropriate and CU and other institutions really need to take a hard look and revisit their policies attempting to shut down the pro-Palestine protests.”
Sophomore Rosenfeld and Inman, a December graduate who plans to pursue graduate studies, were members of Students for Justice in Palestine, a national organization with more than 350 groups on college campuses across the country. The CU chapter was registered as an official student group in 2023.
“Despite its desire to comply with the University’s policies, SJP has been subject to extreme monitoring by the administration and abundant security presence at its planned events in an effort to minimize the reach of SJP’s protest activities,” the lawsuit states. “The University does not monitor and deploy law enforcement to all events hosted by other student organizations, such as Students Supporting Israel.”
On Oct. 3, CU sponsored a science, technology, engineering and mathematics-centered job fair that featured companies such as Lockheed Martin and RTX that have contributed to the production of weapons used by the Israel Defense Forces against Palestinians in Gaza.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine planned to protest at the job fair to object to the U.S.’s support of Israel’s war and to educate students who might be unaware of the company’s links to the destruction of Gaza, the lawsuit states.
Around 10 students plus Rosenfeld and Inman walked into the job fair held inside the University Memorial Center’s Glenn Miller Ballroom.
Through a bullhorn, Inman said, “There are corporations profiting from the genocide in Palestine here today,” the lawsuit said. A person at the job fair responded that it was a “professional space,” indicating that the SJP members should leave. Inman responded that it was “not very professional to kill children.”
An administrator accompanied by a law enforcement officer approached the group and asked them to leave — at which point the group left, according to the complaint.
In total, the SJP students were in the building for about three to five minutes before leaving, the lawsuit said.
The day after the protest, the university placed the student group in bad standing, effectively barring SJP from operating as a recognized student organization.
That same day, university officials initiated student code of conduct proceedings against Rosenfeld and Inman, which imposed a temporary exclusion order on the two students. They were barred from “the entire campus, on-campus housing and any university activities” with the exception of attending classes, according to the lawsuit.
The notice said violation of the order would be considered trespassing, would warrant law enforcement notification and could jeopardize their status as students, the lawsuit said.
“The notices provided no opportunity for a hearing or appeal regarding the interim exclusion from campus,” the lawsuit said.
The exclusion was lifted nearly two months later after Thanksgiving break.
Defendant Devin Cramer, CU Boulder’s dean of students and associate vice chancellor for student affairs, filed a police report against the two students, the lawsuit said.
The offenses alleged in the police report included: inference with staff, faculty or students of an educational institution; trespass within public buildings; harassment, strikes, shoves or kicks with intent to intimidate or harass another person, in whole or in part, because of that person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity; and unlawful conduct on public property.
“There is no good-faith basis to accuse Plaintiffs of having committed any of these offenses,” the lawsuit said.
The Boulder County District Attorney’s Office has not prosecuted the students.
“CU rolls out the red carpet for arms manufacturers whose munitions are shipped to an apartheid state overseas to slaughter innocent families,” Rosenfeld said in a statement. “As students at CU Boulder, we have a duty to not stand idly by and act like that’s acceptable. Especially as a Jewish student at an institution that claims to value diversity of perspectives, my voice deserves to be heard when speaking about how Israel’s actions dishonor the Jewish people. This lawsuit tells CU that they cannot repress this student movement for a free Palestine.”
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