The plaintiffs in the claim include philosophy Professor Noelle McAfee, English and indigenous studies Professor Emilio Del Valle-Escalante, and economics Professor Caroline Fohlin. Notably, all three professors remain tenured faculty; though they were all arrested, none were convicted of any criminal charge.
Three Emory University professors have filed a lawsuit claiming that they were wrongfully arrested during a 2024 campus protest against Israel’s war on Gaza.
According to CBS News, the lawsuit was filed Thursday in DeKalb County State Court.
The plaintiffs in the claim include philosophy Professor Noelle McAfee, English and indigenous studies Professor Emilio Del Valle-Escalante, and economics Professor Caroline Fohlin. Notably, all three professors remain tenured faculty; though they were all arrested, none were convicted of any criminal charge.
McAfee said that she’s suing the university, which she and her co-plaintiffs claim violated its own rules on law enforcement, “to try to get them to be accountable and to change.”
The plaintiffs say they were acting as observers on April 25, 2024, when some students and others set up tents on Emory’s main quad to protest the war. Emory allegedly broke its own policies by calling in the Atlanta Police and Georgia state troopers without considering other, more peaceful options.
“The judicial system would find that Emory failed to protect its students, to protect its staff, to protect the educational mission of the university,” McAfee told CBS News. “So this isn’t just about people’s individual rights. It’s our educational mission to train people in free and critical inquiry, to be able to learn how to engage with others, to be fearless.”
McAfee says that she was charged with disorderly conduct after she yelled “Stop!” at an officer who was handling a protester roughly while conducting an arrest. Del Valle-Escalante said that he tried helping an older woman when he, too, was suddenly arrested and subsequently charged with disorderly conduct. Fohlin was charged with misdemeanor battery of an officer.
CBS News notes that, later the same day, Emory University issued a statement in which it claimed that most of 28 people arrested on-campus were trespassing on school property. However, at least 20 of the 28 were later found to be affiliated with the school. The professors say that, even after they were released, they were targeted with threats and harassment, largely driven by conservatives who felt the university had failed to protect its Jewish students.
An Emory spokesperson has since said that the lawsuit is “without merit.”
“Emory acts appropriately and responsibly to keep our community safe from threats of harm,” spokesperson Laura Diamodn said. “We regret this issue is being litigated but we have full confidence in the legal process.”
Sources
Emory professors file lawsuit against university over arrests during Gaza war protest
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