The College Fix

California universities ban encampments to avoid creating a ‘hostile environment’

Student activists at public universities in California will no longer be able to build tent cities or hide their faces behind masks following new rules.

California State University introduced its new policy Thursday, banning encampments, overnight protests, and “unauthorized barricades,” according to EdSource.

Students “who attempt to start an encampment may be disciplined or sanctioned,” CSU spokesperson Hazel Kelly told EdSource.

“Campus presidents and their designated officials will enforce this prohibition and take appropriate steps to stop encampments, including giving clear notice to those in violation that they must discontinue their encampment activities immediately,” Kelly stated.

She also called encampments “disruptive” and said they “can cause a hostile environment for some community members,” EdSource reported.

Similarly, University of California President Michael Drake announced Monday in a letter to UC chancellors that all campuses within the Cal State University system must prohibit “unauthorized structures” and encampments.

In addition, they must ban “anything that restricts movement on campus, which could include protests that block walkways and roadways or deny access by anyone on campus to UC facilities,” EdSource reported.

“I hope that the direction provided in this letter will help you achieve an inclusive and welcoming environment at our campuses that protects and enables free expression while ensuring the safety of all community members by providing greater clarity and consistency in our policies and policy application,” Drake stated in the letter.

Both systems also asked campus leaders to prohibit the wearing of face masks with the purpose to “conceal one’s identity,” according to EdSource.

Drake is following the state budget’s new requirement for stricter enforcement of protest rules across all UC campuses. Legislators have tied $25 million in funding to UC’s compliance, requiring Drake to provide a report on the plans to the Legislature by Oct. 1 before the funds are released, according to EdSource.

Protests over the Israel-Hamas conflict have erupted in recent months at Cal State and UC campuses. In June, anti-Israel protestors at California State University prevented employees from leaving the school by storming and blocking off a building, as previously reported by The College Fix. The protestors assaulted four people, smashed windows, spray painted graffiti, and destroyed office materials.

The University of California spent $29 million in the spring semester on protest security and cleanup. The school had to hire additional security, scrub graffiti from buildings, remove trash from protesters’ encampments, and remove rodents and cockroaches.

Earlier this month, House Republicans introduced the “No Tax Dollars for College Encampments Act,” which would mandate that universities publicly disclose their protest response policies as a condition for federal accreditation, as previously reported by The College Fix.

MORE: Indiana University board imposes limits on protests

IMAGE: Lev Radin/Shutterstock

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