The University of Maryland will uphold two student conduct charges that a civil liberties advocacy organization asked be dropped against student journalists who were detained by UMPD while reporting on a protest outside an event in October.

Associate general counsel Christopher Lord wrote the letter in response to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s request that the university drop student conduct charges against student journalists Riona Sheikh and Rumaysa Drissi. The two were covering an Oct. 21 event hosted by this university’s Students Supporting Israel chapter featuring a discussion with three Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Sheikh and Drissi, who reported for the Muslim student newspaper Al-Hikmah, took photos and recorded video while protesters chanted in a hallway outside the event in Jiménez Hall. University of Maryland Police officers then detained two protesters as well as Sheikh and Drissi for about an hour.

In the university’s letter on Thursday, Lord wrote that the university is not sanctioning Sheikh and Drissi for exercising their rights as journalists.

“To the contrary, the University has charged the Students with participating in the protest of the SSI event, in a manner that ran afoul of applicable University policies,” Lord wrote.

Lord wrote that “evidence indicates” that they may have been part of the disruption of the Oct. 21 event, whether they were shouting or not.

[Advocacy group urges UMD to drop charges against student journalists detained in October]

The student conduct charges aren’t dependent on their status as student journalists reporting on the protest, he wrote, but rather if they “participated in an active disruption of another student group’s approved event.”

Video footage reviewed by The Diamondback shows four protesters chanting and holding signs in the hallway outside of the event in Jiménez Hall. The more than two hours of footage reviewed by The Diamondback include videos taken by witnesses, Diamondback reporters at the event and UMPD body camera footage obtained through a public records request.

The videos show Sheikh and Drissi holding cameras as protesters held signs and chanted. Neither of the student journalists chanted, shouted or held signs while outside the event, according to the footage.

Two protesters left the hallway, videos show, and the officers surrounded the two remaining protesters, as well as Sheikh. Drissi was also detained minutes later after clarifying with officers that Sheikh was a student journalist.

Video reviewed by The Diamondback also shows UMPD officers requesting Sheikh and Drissi show their university IDs during their detainment, which both declined to provide. The two protesters who were also detained were allowed to leave after giving the officers identifying information.

Body camera footage shows an officer approaching a separate group of students observing the scene, which included a Diamondback reporter wearing press credentials.

The officer asked the students if they were attending the event, video shows, to which the Diamondback reporter presented her credentials. She was not asked to provide her name, a university ID or any other identification. A second Diamondback reporter present was also not asked for her credentials, but wore them around her neck.

According to the university’s letter, Sheikh and Drissi face charges of:

  • Interfering with the lawful freedom of expression of others.
  • Participating in disorderly or disruptive action.
  • Intentionally providing false information to the university.
  • Not complying with university officials’, including law enforcement, directives, such as not providing identification when requested.

In a statement to The Diamondback, Sheikh wrote that the university’s letter “attempts to recharacterize journalism as disruption” to justify their being detained and facing student conduct charges. But the video tells a different story, she wrote.

“When student journalists covering pro-Palestinian speech are treated as protesters by default, while other reporters are allowed to work freely, it sends a clear message that documenting pro-Palestinian speech is risky on this campus,” she wrote. “This should concern anyone who values press freedom and the right of students to speak against genocide and injustice.”

[UMPD detains protesters, student journalists outside event with IDF soldiers]

Sheikh added that she and Drissi were not asked for press credentials when detained. The university’s charges rely on “proximity and assumption, not conduct,” Sheikh wrote.

Drissi told The Diamondback in a statement it feels like the university is “suppressing our voices and disregarding us not only as journalists but as students of this university as well.”

“The whole incident affects us mentally and emotionally,” she wrote. “The university’s response says a lot more about how much they value our voices and safety than they might think.”

In a Dec. 8 letter to general counsel Jay Rosselló, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression student press counsel Marie McMullan wrote that the student journalists’ newsgathering was protected by the First Amendment.

She added that the student journalists recording while outside the event was “protected and nondisruptive, and finding otherwise will only compound the chilling effect spurred by these investigations.”

McMullan requested the university drop the charges related to the interference with freedom of expression and participating in disruptive behavior.

In Thursday’s letter, Lord wrote that “there have been no findings against them to date” and the disciplinary case is still ongoing. He added that student journalists are “presumed to be not responsible unless and until they are found responsible by a preponderance of the evidence.”

“Student journalists cannot seek the protective cloak offered by the First Amendment if they themselves violate it by disrupting other students’ free speech rights,” he wrote.

The cases will be decided by a “neutral University administrator” after both students present their side at disciplinary conferences.

Both Sheikh and Drissi’s student conduct hearings are scheduled for after winter break.

Editor in chief Lizzy Alspach contributed reporting.