UT student sues school over demonstration

AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports a student threatened with suspension is suing the University of Texas, UT President Jay Hartzell and former Provost Sharon Wood, claiming they violated his First Amendment rights when he was arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest on April 24. The suit, filed Tuesday, alleges that UT “unlawfully attempted to prevent that speech” and is now trying to suspend the student and bar him from campus for three semesters pending a hearing Friday. In an additional motion filed Wednesday, the student seeks a temporary restraining order against the disciplinary hearing, which a federal judge denied Thursday afternoon. “It’s pretty evident that the university’s actions targeting that demonstration were really just unambiguously unlawful,” Brian McGivern, the lawyer representing the case from Austin Community Law Center, told the American-Statesman in an interview. “My hope is that the lawsuit will also deter them from blindly, unapologetically breaking the law.”