Vanderbilt Students Expelled Over Violent Protest, Including Activist Recognized By The White House

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

For years, we have discussed the failure of universities to take actions against faculty and students shutting down events or acting unlawfully, including faculty guilty of criminal assault.

Now, Vanderbilt has expelled three students after anti-Israel protests, including Jack Petocz, a political activist recognized by the White House and featured prominently in the New York Times and other news outlets.

According to the Vanderbilt Hustler and The College Fix, the students were arrested for allegedly assaulting a security guard amid raucous anti-Israel protests inside an Administration building late last month.

A security video shows a security officer overwhelmed as he tried to keep protesters out of Kirkland Hall.

The officer is shown being pushed down the hall before leaving the frame of the video camera.

Petocz posted a denial on X:

“I did not touch a community service officer, nor am I anywhere near the individual in the video. I’d implore you to trust a student activist over rich, powerful, white men, but that’s your choice.”

He insisted that he and the other students were only “peacefully protesting the genocide in Palestine.”

X Screenshot

Petocz’s activism, including opposing the Florida parental rights law, has been widely celebrated in the media including an article that featured him in a January 2022 front story on fighting conservative school boards. President Biden invited him to the White House for a bill signing and took a picture with him in the Oval Office.

Hi! My name is Jack Petocz, I’m the 17-year-old student activist who led nationwide walkouts against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Through being kicked out of school, harassed in public and doxxed, this moment was truly special to me. I’ll keep fighting ❤️ pic.twitter.com/DGksCMTWHS

— Jack Petocz (@Jack_Petocz) July 13, 2022

It appears that universities are growing impatient with protesters, particularly after a series of sit-ins. Recently, students were suspended for storming the office of Pomona College President Gabrielle Starr. Nineteen students were reportedly arrested.

Starr claimed in an open letter that racial slurs were used by students and declared:

“These actions are actively destructive of the values that underpin our community. Any participants in today’s events … who turn out to be Pomona students, are subject to immediate suspension. Students from the other Claremont Colleges will be banned from Pomona’s campus and subject to discipline on their own campuses.”

The actions of the university have led to protests on campus and calls for the student board to reverse that suspensions.