Alyssa Chang, Staff Photographer

A new Yale web page designed to consolidate campus free expression regulations includes several new measures that appear to tighten policies against encampments and other forms of campus protest. 

The changes come after several run-ins between administrators and student protestors last year over University regulations on free expression. In April, pro-Palestinian student groups slept overnight in tents on Beinecke Plaza and Cross Campus. 

“The free expression content on the Office of the Secretary website was consolidated from existing content to provide easy to access resources on free expression and peaceable assembly for members of the university community,” Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews wrote to the News. “The work was in response to recommendations from faculty, students, and staff. In this process, the use of outdoor space and the postering and chalking policies were clarified and an FAQ on free expression was added.”

Goff-Crews’ initial email to the Yale community claimed to “consolidate” policies, but did not mention any new or updated policy. 

Several policy additions seem directly aimed at restricting encampments. Last year, Yale police arrested 47 students involved in the Beinecke Plaza encampments after the University issued multiple warnings but allowed the encampment to remain overnight for three straight nights. 

A new section titled “University Postering, Chalking, Light Projection, and Structures Policy” lists 17 rules for using outdoor spaces, which include a mandatory end time of 11 p.m. for all events, a prohibition on sleeping outdoors overnight and a complete ban on events on Cross Campus during the month of May. Another new section denotes that dispersal, disciplinary action or criminal charges may result from violating these policies.

One new policy that was not previously on the website of the Office of the Provost imposes a blanket ban on the use of projections on Cross Campus or Beinecke Plaza. The policy also provides guidelines for obtaining permission to project images or messages on other Yale buildings or grounds. While projections have not featured prominently in protests on Yale’s campus, the form of protest has become highly contentious at other universities.

A University spokesperson declined to comment on whether the updated policies were intended to address encampments and other campus protest activity.

The new web page also includes new and more in-depth guidance for the type of activity that is allowed on outdoor campus spaces.

The new version of the policy regarding use of outdoor spaces emphasizes that “requests may be submitted only by registered student groups and organizations in good standing,” which would preclude groups such as Occupy Beinecke –– a non-Yale registered group that led protests in April –– from requesting outdoor space. It also adds several new factors that will be considered when approving requests, including event size, duration and whether the request is for “highly trafficked campus spaces.”

Additionally, three new pages were added to the office’s website: one summarizing the Woodward Report — Yale’s foundational free speech document — another answering frequently asked questions about the University’s free expression policies and a third linking the disciplinary procedures for each of Yale’s schools.

Other policies remain mostly the same, but come with slight changes. One section, on the protocol for disruptions that violate campus free expression policies, features a single word change. 

Previously, the second warning read, “if the disruption does not stop, you will be subject to possible disciplinary sanctions, citation, and summons.” Now, the warning of “citation” has been replaced with the warning that students in violation of policy will be subject to “infraction.” The Executive Committee of Yale College uses the term “infraction” as a general way to refer to violations of the Undergraduate Regulations. The News could not locate any mention of “citation” in a disciplinary context in the University’s regulations.

Similarly, the University’s policy on structures remains largely the same as when it was originally posted online, with one notable change. The list of structures that are banned unless permission is obtained — walls, barriers, tents, sculptures and art — has now been updated to include “placards,” meaning posters or signs.

University policy on postering and chalking has also been changed to specify that “flags and banners” are considered posters.

The general “Free Expression Policy Guidance” page, which lays out restrictions on various disruptive forms of protest, remains word-for-word the same as it was on an Oct. 4, 2023, capture of the website. 

In an email on Monday, Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis affirmed the importance of free speech at Yale while emphasizing the need to have ground rules surrounding discourse on Campus. 

Lewis directed students toward Goff-Crews’s email and the webpage for further clarification of what these rules will look like on campus. 

“You can read more about these values, their practical application, and responses to discrimination and harassment in the August 13 message from Secretary and Vice-President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews,” Lewis wrote.

Goff-Crews was appointed Vice President for University Life in 2019.