Chapman students face discipline over megaphone use during ‘protect DEI’ protest
- Share via
Following a protest last month to protect diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Chapman University, several student activists are scheduled to appear at administrative hearings over alleged campus conduct code violations.
Student groups banded together on March 17 for a rally in response to two vice presidents who were placed on leave, including from the university’s DEI office, just two days after the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to Chapman and 59 other colleges warning them of “potential enforcement actions” for alleged antisemitism.
It is unclear whether the administrators are on leave due to the letter, as the university has declined to comment on personnel matters.
During the demonstration in front of Memorial Hall, several students used a megaphone and a microphone to give speeches to the crowd and to lead chants, which ran afoul of the university’s conduct codes regarding amplified sound.
Myth Moos, co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine at Chapman, helped emcee the rally and led chants through a megaphone during the march. He received an email from the Dean of Student Affairs office on Tuesday alerting him to an administrative hearing that could result in disciplinary action.
“It’s just part of the university pushback and repression of voices,” Moos told TimesOC. “As a group, Students for Justice in Palestine were hoping we wouldn’t get something like this, but we can’t say we’re surprised, either.”
About 200 students and faculty turned out to protest a move to put two key Chapman University vice presidents, including from the DEI office, on administrative leave.
Carly Murphy, a Chapman University spokesperson, did not answer direct questions about how many students are facing discipline and what such punitive actions could be, citing student privacy concerns.
Murphy otherwise defended the university’s polices in a prepared statement.
“In addition to fully supporting free speech, including peaceful protests and demonstrations, we encourage and nurture civil discourse,” she said. “We have an important role to play in this regard, as an educational institution, and our policies aim to provide opportunities for everyone.”
Michael Daniels, outreach chair of Students for Justice in Palestine, also received an email about his scheduled April 14 hearing, which includes a “failure to comply” charge.
“They haven’t told us what the punishment could be,” he said. “I don’t know what to expect. I could be suspended.”
According to a university email sent to students about the hearings, Dean of Students Jerry Price and Tristan Alpert, assistant dean of students, approached student activists at the rally around noon and informed them about the amplified sound rules.
The conduct code for events states amplified sound must be approved in advance and that it is otherwise not permitted during weekdays in outdoor areas that “could disturb classes, university business or nearby residents of Orange.”
After the conversation with Price, student activists continued using amplified sound as alleged in a university “incident summary” that included surveillance footage and screenshot photographs.
At least three Students for Justice in Palestine members face discipline related to the protest. Two other student activists were identified for alleged policy violations in the incident summary.
Students for Justice in Palestine used amplified sound during a walk-out last April. One month later, the group set up a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus where speakers routinely used a microphone. An agreement between university officials and student activists led to the encampment being voluntarily dismantled without any disciplinary action taken.
Students for Justice in Palestine claimed that university officials made a verbal agreement not to alter any free speech policies on campus but its members came back for the fall semester to updated and expanded rules, including on amplified sound.
Chapman University President Daniele Struppa sent a campus-wide email condemning the award given to Students for Justice in Palestine, which was promptly rescinded.
Since then, tensions over the Gaza War have continued to roil the university.
In January, Students for Justice in Palestine had an MLK award rescinded amid outcry from university president Daniele Struppa, who sent a campus-wide email criticizing the award and pro-Israel groups.
That same month, an archivist resigned from Barry and Phyllis Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education, accusing it of “silence on the apartheid state of Israel and its ongoing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.”
The Anti-Defamation League graded Chapman with a “D” for “deficient approach” on its 2025 campus antisemitism report card that sounded a high-alert for “severe antisemitic and anti-Zionist incidents.”
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s letter to Chapman over alleged antisemitism followed — as did the student protest that drew hundreds in response.
Most recently, Moos and Daniels began a hunger strike calling on Chapman to preserve DEI, protect international and undocumented students and divest from war.
Daniels ended his fast before receiving the email about the hearing.
Moos, who counted Wednesday as his 10th day of fasting, faces his own hearing on April 16. He plans to make a case against the conduct codes, which he said unfairly hampers the ability of students to organize protests in an urgent manner.
“If you want to have a protest, then you have to go through the significantly long process of getting a space and getting permission for all these things,” Moos said. “By that time, the moment has passed.”
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
