Around 20 Georgetown University students called for the release of federally detained researcher Badar Khan Suri and pressured the university to oppose federal immigration officers’ deportation efforts at an April 11 rally outside the university’s front gates.

A new protest coalition, the GU Student Coalition Against Repression (SCAR), organized the rally to call on Georgetown to publicly condemn Khan Suri’s detention and become a “sanctuary campus” that does not collaborate with federal immigration officers. Around fifteen students first occupied Healy Hall starting at 9 a.m. but moved outside the university front gates after Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) officers forcibly removed them from Healy at 10:36 a.m., according to a media liaison for GU SCAR.

The organizers said GUPD officers violated their free speech rights by removing them from Healy.

“Georgetown police officers put their hands on students whose only crime was opposing genocide,” the students said at the rally.

A university spokesperson said GUPD removed protesters from Healy because they ignored the officers, blocked exits and “disrupted university business.”

“After numerous directives from university officials during which the protesters refused to identify themselves, the Georgetown University Police Department at the direction of university officials removed the disruptive protesters from Healy Hall,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya.

“Any members of the Georgetown community who are identified and found to have violated University policy will face discipline,” the spokesperson added.

Officers of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) also arrived and spoke with the protesters, but did not interfere with the demonstration.

The media liaison for GU SCAR said GUPD officers were “hostile” toward the protesters while they were in Healy and used force to remove students from the building.

“They dragged students out of Healy Hall — in a space that, as tuition-paying students of this university, they had an absolute right to be in — and they forcibly removed students,” the media liaison told The Hoya. “They grabbed them and assaulted them. They said egregious things to students.”

Eleanor Daugherty, vice president for student affairs, and Erik Smulson (COL ’89), vice president for public affairs, said in a university-wide email April 11 that university officials followed policy by removing the protesters from Healy.

“University officials de-escalated the situation and conducted themselves in a civil manner throughout the incident,” Daugherty and Smulson said in the email.

A speaker at the rally said Georgetown was violating its free speech policy. 

“Georgetown assaulted students for advocating against genocide, for advocating for the release of political prisoners, for advocating for the free speech Georgetown falsely touts,” the speaker said in a speech.

“Is it free speech to kick us off campus?” the speaker added.

A university spokesperson said Georgetown’s Policy on Speech and Expression protects campus speech but reserves the university’s right to “reasonably regulate the time, place, and manner of expression to ensure that it does not disrupt the ordinary activities of the institution.”

The spokesperson added that the university condemns discrimination and harassment on campus.

“Georgetown University strongly condemns antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and hatred of any kind in our community,” the spokesperson wrote. “We do not tolerate harassment, discrimination, intimidation or threats of harm.”

The GU SCAR media liaison said the protesters were in compliance with the Policy on Speech and Expression.

The rally coincided with Georgetown Admissions Ambassador Program (GAAP) Weekend, during which admitted students visit the university. Organizers said they wanted to show the campus is not “business as usual” while prospective students visited.

“As Georgetown boasts the public image of its Jesuit values to prospective students this weekend, we are here to force you to tell the truth: Georgetown fails to protect the community members against state repression,” a speaker at the rally said in a spoken statement. 

The media liaison said GU SCAR unifies campus organizations demanding Georgetown protects community members from federal immigration officers and divests from corporations associated with Israel’s government.

“There are so many organizations and people on this campus concerned, terrified by the crackdown and brutalization of student protesters at this moment in time,” the media liaison said. “This is not just a single organization. It is a unified movement.”

Another speaker said in a speech the students have the right to be in Healy and advocate for Palestine.

“We as students hold the university’s power,” the speaker said. “This is our hall, our campus, our community, and we will not bow down in the face of repression.”

The GU SCAR media liaison said the rally was part of GU SCAR’s goal to demand divestment from corporations linked to Israel’s government.

“Our money should be going to education, it should not be going to bombs and occupation,” the media liaison said. “We have an absolute obligation as students to dictate where our money’s going, and that’s why we were there today.”