Emory Professors Sue Over 2024 Protest Arrests

Three professors at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, filed a lawsuit on April 23, 2026, over their arrests during a 2024 campus protest against Israel’s war on Gaza. The civil lawsuit, filed in DeKalb County State Court, argues that the university broke its own free-speech policies by calling in police and state troopers to disband the protest, resulting in 28 arrests.

Al Jazeera reported that the plaintiffs—a philosophy professor; an English and Indigenous studies professor; and an economics professor—remain tenured faculty members at the university, with none convicted of any charges.

The lawsuit demands that Emory University repay money spent by the three professors defending against misdemeanor charges that were later dismissed, along with punitive damages. The three professors were observers on April 25, 2024, when students and others set up tents on Emory University’s main quad to protest the war.

” at an officer arresting a protester. The English and Indigenous studies professor was charged with disorderly conduct after trying to help an older woman during the protest. The economics professor was thrown face-first to the ground and arrested after protesting against officers pinning a protester, suffering a concussion and a spine injury.

She was charged with misdemeanor battery of an officer. Emory University claimed that those arrested on April 25, 2024, were outsiders who trespassed on school property, but 20 of the 28 people arrested were affiliated with the university. The philosophy professor served as president of the Emory University Senate after her arrest.

The Emory University Senate makes policy recommendations and helped draft the university’s open expression policy. Emory University’s open expression policy was revised after 2024 to prohibit tents, camping, the occupation of university buildings, and demonstrations between midnight and 7am. Students are afraid to protest at Emory.