Three Emory University professors who were arrested during a 2024 on-campus protest are suing the Atlanta private school, claiming it violated its own policies and suppressed free speech.
The lawsuit claims that all three professors “witnessed police officers violently assaulting their students” and were quickly arrested for speaking out. “Emory then charged them with crimes, despite knowing that the charges lacked merit,” according to the complaint filed in DeKalb County State Court on Thursday, almost two years to the date of the arrests. It notes that all the charges were eventually dismissed.
“I went to work that day and then I ended up at the jail,” philosophy professor Noëlle McAfee, one of the three complainants, said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It was a terribly horrible, violent, traumatic day that in many ways broke the spirit of the community.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Emory, which has its own campus police, has faced significant criticism for its decision to have the Atlanta Police Department and Georgia State Patrol break up an April 25, 2024, pro-Palestinian protest on the campus quad. Some students and faculty said the response — where police were armed with rifles and deployed chemical irritants — to the makeshift encampment was heavy-handed.
Thursday’s filing repeats what many of those critics have been arguing for two years: That Emory betrayed its own open expression policy, which said police are only to be called during “emergencies,” that the university must consult with the chair of the Committee for Open Expression to explore all alternatives, and arrests “must be the option of last resort.”
The university, according to the lawsuit, ignored all those requirements. Within half an hour of protesters first coming to the quad, Emory directed police to break it up. “Emory’s plan before the protest started was that if there was any tent placed on the quad, they would call the police immediately, all policies be damned,” reads the lawsuit. “Emory did not like the content of the speakers’ expression and sought to terminate it as quickly as possible.”
In a statement, Emory spokesperson Laura Diamond said the university is limited in what it can say while the matter is in litigation. “We regret this issue is being litigated, but we have confidence in the legal process,” Diamond said. “We believe this lawsuit is without merit, which will be shown in court. Emory acts appropriately and responsibly to keep our community safe from threats of harm.”
“What threat of harm?” asked McAfee, former president of the faculty senate.
When she looked at the quad that day, “I saw a bunch of kids sitting on the grass chanting the typical, usual slogans.” But when board chair Robert C. Goddard III and then-president Gregory L. Fenves looked at that same sea of young people, “they see danger,” according to McAfee.
Goddard is set to retire in fall 2027, the university announced last month. Fenves stepped away from the presidency in September. He is now university chancellor with Leah Ward Sears serving as interim president.
The lawsuit asks for a trial by jury and for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. It says that McAfee and the other two plaintiffs, Emil’ Keme and Caroline Fohlin, were forced to hire criminal defense attorneys in response to the charges that the university declined to drop “even after leadership knew them to be false.” Keme and McAfee were charged with disorderly conduct while Fohlin, an economics professor, was charged with battery of a law enforcement officer.
Keme and McAfee said they want the university to acknowledge it erred that April day. For two years, that request has been ignored, so they are now turning to the courts.
“Emory never expressed any regret about what they did to us or the students. There was never an apology,” Keme told the AJC. Instead, according to the English professor, they doubled down on their decision to call the police. He said that’s had a chilling effect on students, who fear holding any future protests could result in a similar police response.
“Allowing students to express themselves, to express their views, is so important, and the university is the place where we are supposed to come together, to engage in difficult conversations, to come up with solutions,” said Keme. “If we don’t hold Emory accountable for this, it’s going to happen again.”
McAfee said she’d be open to settling the case if the school is willing to admit wrongdoing and assure them it won’t happen again. She does not relish suing her employer, she said, recognizing that “this kind of kills a career.” But because she is tenured and has been at the university since 2010, she can take a risk that some of her less-established colleagues might not.
“Tenure is for the benefit of academic freedom. It’s for this exactly: to be able to speak up and press the administration on what’s important and good for the university and the students,” she said. “It’s not something I’m taking any pleasure in, but it’s the right thing to do.”
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
