Washington University revised its Danforth Campus Facilities Access Policy and introduced two new subsections under the Safety and Security section of the policy. The new subsections explicitly prohibit sleeping or camping outdoors or in nonresidential areas without University approval and outline the factors considered when determining event security needs. 

The updates to the policy, which were implemented in August, come after a spring semester marked by pro-Palestine protests on campus and efforts to establish an encampment on the East End.

Julie Flory, Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications, wrote to Student Life in an email that the rules and protocols in the policy are largely unchanged, but the language used has been updated for clarity and concision. 

“The previous policy did not allow unapproved tents, and Event Management did not allow unapproved events between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., but the Facilities Access Policy did not explicitly say that camping is not allowed,” she wrote. “It does now.”

The new policy also emphasizes that the University does not determine event or demonstration security needs based on the viewpoints or opinions of participants involved. Instead, the University considers factors like the event location and number of participants. 

“The assessment of security needs at events has always been viewpoint-neutral, but after hearing from community members, we wanted to make clear what factors go into that analysis,” Flory wrote. 

Many events on campus had security present last year — including both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel demonstrations. Some students called on the University to provide greater transparency regarding their camping and security policies after over 100 arrests were made at the April 27 protest and encampment. 

Earlier in the semester, Chancellor Andrew Martin attended a Student Union (SU) meeting where he fielded questions from student representatives, including one about security policies from sophomore and senator Emaan Sayied.  

“What made you decide that you need to use law enforcement, specifically the seven police departments, especially since there was an encampment for a minimum wage back in 2019 and it wasn’t met with the same response?” Sayied asked Martin. 

In his response, Martin did not directly address the April encampment, but stood firm on his previous stance that protesters had crossed a line by refusing to disperse after being instructed to do so by the police.

Flory emphasized that students can always submit feedback on University policies by emailing an ad hoc committee established by the WashU Board of Trustees, which was recently formed to assess University policies on protests.

At the recent SU meeting, Martin expressed a similar sentiment to Flory, saying that administrators are open to hearing feedback from the community about these policies. 

According to Flory, the Board ad hoc committee is currently considering potential policy changes, though she did not disclose what those changes might be. 

Martin said that it’s possible that administrators will have a conversation and consider permitting encampments as a form of advocacy. 

“We’ll weigh the costs and benefits and ultimately make a determination,” he told SU members.    

Lawrence Hapeman contributed reporting for this article.