UT-Austin Dean Defends Pro-Palestine Protest Leader’s Suspension

University of Texas at Austin’s decision to suspend a student in 2024 who led a pro-Palestine protest was unrelated to his views on the war in Gaza, the dean of students testified in a federal courtroom Monday.

Ammer Qaddumi was disciplined because of the disruption caused on campus by the protest he planned, Katie McGee said. Organized through the Palestine Solidarity Committee, the protest—which the school tried to cancel—was intended to mirror those from other universities, she said, where students sought to interfere with campus operations and encourage their schools to divest from Israel.

Those concerns were supported, McGee testified, ...