On a nearly 100-degree evening in Garland, dozens of people stood chanting outside the General Dynamics plant Tuesday waving Palestinian flags. They carried signs and used keffiyehs to block the sun.
The defense contractor — with plants across the country — manufactures MK-80 bombs, which have been used in Israel's bombing of Gaza. Twenty-three people were arrested outside the plant during a protest against the war in March.
Among the rallygoers were University of Texas at Dallas students who were arrested two months ago during a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.
“The university refuses to heed our demands for divestment,” said Nouran Abusaad, one of the student arrestees. “So strongly that they would rather suppress and send state troopers and send police after their own students than make ethical investment decisions and then support their Palestinian students.”
Abusaad and other students could learn their academic fate this week as the university holds disciplinary hearings through Friday that could result in probation, suspension or even expulsion.
Members of the UTD community have called on the university system to divest from weapons corporations with ties to Israel’s war in Gaza, including Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza began after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack against Israel that killed about 1,200 people. Since then, more than 38,000 Palestinians — mostly civilians — have been killed in Israel’s air and ground attacks with more than 2 million displaced from their homes, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Abusaad said despite the threat of discipline and her conditional release from jail, she still came out to protest the war.
“The idea that I am not safe in my university simply because of my Palestinian organizing and that the university will try to silence my voice as a Palestinian is always going to be a source of fear,” the graduate student said. “But as I said before, we draw inspiration from our people in Palestine.”
After the arrests
A total of 21 people, including nine who were students at the time and three professors, were arrested for criminal trespass at the encampment at UTD’s Chess Plaza May 1. Supporters camped outside the jail through the night.
Protesters were released from the Collin County Jail on May 2. As part of their bond conditions, arrestees say they were banned from campus aside from class and class-related activities — or work and work-related activities, in the professors’ cases. Their criminal cases are pending.
The university is now investigating whether the arrested students violated school rules by exhibiting disruptive conduct, obstructing access to institutional facilities, failing to comply with the instructions of a university official or other alleged violations of the Student Code of Conduct, according to a letter one student shared with KERA News.
Lee Mulupi was not a student but volunteered to serve as a legal observer at the campus encampment. Mulupi said they knew they’d likely be among those arrested once police arrived but hoped to protect the students.
Mulupi and others are angry the students are facing disciplinary action.
“It also makes me admire those people and just revere those people so highly, because they knew that that was a possibility,” Mulupi said. “They knew that that's what they were putting on the line, and that's just how much they cared.”
University spokesperson Brittany Magelssen said the school would not comment on disciplinary actions against the students due to student privacy concerns. The university did not immediately confirm or explain what professional consequences the faculty members face.
A similar scene played out in Travis County, where more than 100 people were arrested for criminal trespass during pro-Palestinian protests at UT Austin in April. All charges were dropped, but at least four students received notice of their discipline earlier this month. Those punishments included deferred suspension, similar to probation, and actual suspension.
How the hearings are supposed to go
If a student disputes allegations that they violated university rules, they may get a hearing in front of a hearing officer or panel made up of faculty, staff and students from UTD’s Discipline Committee, according to the Student Code of Conduct. Students must get written notice of the hearing at least five days in advance.
Students may present evidence documents, witnesses and a summary of what witnesses will testify about. Students may be accompanied by an advisor, but that person cannot question witnesses, make arguments or objections, or bring evidence. If the student brings in an attorney as their advisor, so can the dean of students through the Office of the General Counsel of the UT System.
The hearings function much like a trial: the dean and the student present their opening statements and evidence. Both sides present witnesses, and each party may question the other’s witnesses.
The dean and the student then give closing statements, and the hearing panel or officer determines whether a student is responsible for the alleged violations. Sanctions may follow, which include a range of punishments — disciplinary probation, the withholding of grades or a degree, suspension or expulsion. Students can appeal those decisions to the vice president of student affairs.
Mousa Najjar graduated with a degree in computer science more than a week after his release from jail in May. He said he was arrested again for criminal trespass June 27 after holding up a Palestinian flag that said “divest from death” as he walked the stage at graduation.
Najjar said his diploma and transcripts were withheld after he was escorted off the stage and off campus. But the holds were released a day after the Dallas Morning News published an article about Najjar’s experience, he said. His hearing is upcoming.
“It just goes beyond the mind how a university can and will attack its own students, ones that have graduated and ones that are still attending paying tuition as well,” he said.
Correction: A previous version of the story incorrectly identified Abusaad as a rising senior. She is a graduate student.
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