As protests pop up at universities around the United States and law enforcement clashes with demonstrators in the streets, students question how to demonstrate on campus without administrator interference.
The freedom to organize on university property, as well as the freedom to visually represent information, is permitted by the University of Rhode Island University Manual. All gatherings, including protests, must comply with federal, local and state laws.
Disruptive activity, including protests, is in violation of the University Land Use Guidelines, updated in February 2025.
What counts as disruptive is up to Public Safety, according to Dan Graney, URI dean of students. Anything that “disrupts university functioning” could be considered disorderly or disruptive.
“[University functions] could be everything from classes to research, to administration, to athletics, to you know, all the different parts of the university,” Graney said. “So as long as it doesn’t disrupt that, then it’s considered orderly.”
One way to gauge if activity is disruptive is if it causes complaints from university occupants, according to Graney. When it comes to classifying protests as “disruptive” or “disorderly,” some cases are more clear-cut than others.
“You can’t block the entrance to a building,” Graney said. “Or, you can’t take over somebody’s office, you know, like the president or something.”
The use of sound amplifiers, such as megaphones and speakers, follows the same anti-disruption guideline, according to the University Land Use Guidelines.
In a similar vein to public assembly, leafleting and distribution of literature are permitted so long as it does not “disrupt the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic or block access to or egress from University Property,” according to the University Land Use Guidelines.
Students aiming to display posters or flyers in university buildings need to go through the building manager, according to Graney. Items need to be approved before being posted.
If Public Safety does need to interfere with a protest, methods depend on the scale of the situation, according to Graney.
“It’s about what is actually being done,” Graney said. “Like, is it just people yelling back and forth? Are they starting to throw things? Are they trying to incite the people that are with them or against them to take some action? Are they trying to incite them to go against the police?”
Working with university administration to organize demonstrations is the best route to follow, according to Graney.
“I think that a lot of people that think about protests think that we want to just shut them down,” Graney said. “And that’s not the case at all. All we want to do is make sure that they’re done safely.”
Coordinating variables like attendance, location and personnel needed with the university can ensure things run smoothly, according to Graney.
“If you come in and tell us, ‘we want to do a protest and then we want to do a march around campus,’ okay, great,” Graney said. “Where around campus do you want to go? Because maybe we want to block off the road so that there isn’t traffic coming at the people that are trying to cross the road.”
The URI chapter of the Youth Democratic Socialists of America hosted a protest on Jan. 30 that drew over 200 people, coordinated with the university, according to Graney. Alongside the Vice President of Student Affairs, Ellen Reynolds, Graney was present at the protest himself to oversee activity.
“There was police in the area, but they didn’t have to be visible, didn’t have to be there because [YDSA] told us exactly what they were going to do,” Graney said.
Students can reach out to the Division of Student Affairs via their website under the “contact” tab if they have questions regarding land use.
