UCLA announced new regulations governing campus protests Wednesday.

Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Monroe Gorden Jr. announced new Time, Place and Manner regulations in a BruinPost announcement. Although the new policies are effective immediately on an interim basis, they will be open for public comment until Nov. 4.

The policies include a requirement for people on campus to identify themselves when asked to do so by university officials, something introduced across the UC.

The new regulations also include a new definition of publicly accessible spaces, limiting areas for public expression activities – including leafleting, picketing, speeches, petition circulation and noncommercial literature distribution – to areas around Bruinwalk and outside Murphy Hall. Separate rules exist for events that receive administration approval 10 days in advance.

Public expression activity organizers will also be required to obtain permission to demonstrate in Bruin Plaza because of potential conflicts with organized club activities. The plaza, an approved space, was the site of several rallies during the United Auto Workers Local 4811 strike in the spring.

Dickson Plaza, where protesters established the first Palestine solidarity encampment at UCLA, is not included in the list of areas where public expression will be permitted. Kerckhoff Patio and Dodd Hall – where protesters also attempted to encamp – are also not approved spaces for public expression.

The “areas for public expression” will permit any member of the campus or outside community to protest without needing permission, provided they do so between 6 a.m. and midnight and do not otherwise disrupt campus activities. 

Several regulations appear to be aimed at preventing encampments, which UC President Michael Drake banned in an email to the UC community August 19. 

[Related: UC President Michael Drake bans encampments on all campuses]

The rules include a ban on the use of tents and camping equipment, new restrictions limiting the distribution of food and the closure of campus walkways between midnight at 6 a.m. Protesters are not permitted to use graffiti or chalk on university property, which pro-Palestine protesters had done in spring 2024.

Graeme Blair, a spokesperson for Faculty for Justice in Palestine at UCLA, said in a written statement that he believes the university had previously used Time, Place and Manner regulations to prevent speech and that faculty hope to hold the university accountable for its application of new rules.

“These rules are a transparent attempt to silence students speaking out on behalf of Palestinians dying in Gaza and demanding that our campus not be complicit in their deaths,” he said in the statement. “College campuses are places for vigorous debate of the biggest issues in our society, past, present and future – and those discussions should not (be) relegated to small pre-approved slices of land.”

Protesters hosting public-expression events – such as protests or picketing – will also now be liable for security and crowd control costs associated with those events. The university spent $11,781,917 on security costs associated with spring protests, according to documents obtained by the Daily Bruin.

However, ticketed university events hosted through the Central Ticket Office – such as commencement – will cap public safety spending at $1.25 million per year.

[Related: UCLA spends millions on pro-Palestine protests, considers attendants to fund costs] 

The new regulations also include new restrictions on the use of amplified sound – including drums, bullhorns and megaphone – and ban its use during marches, unless approved beforehand. Marches must also move constantly, according to the new regulations.

Pro-Palestine protesters had previously used megaphones and loudspeakers during their marches, and a pro-Israel counter-protester set up a jumbotron in Dickson Plaza on April 28 playing footage of Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

Some of the policies are aimed at ensuring access to educational resources, after a federal district court judge ruled UCLA had permitted pro-Palestine protesters to exclude Jewish students from campus opportunities. Although the university originally announced its intention to appeal the ruling, it later requested a dismissal to its appeal.

“Reasonable access to and exit from classrooms, laboratories, parking structures, offices and buildings must be provided at all times,” the policy on public expression activities states.

[Related: Court rules pro-Palestine protests cannot obstruct Jewish students’ accessibility]

Union members had also blocked access to parking structures as part of spring’s UAW 4811 Strike. Members of UAW 4811 had previously objected to the introduction of the UC implementing new policies governing protests without consulting the union in an Aug. 27 press release.

”As a matter within the scope of negotiations, the University has proposed a new policy(s) that has a significant and consequential impact on the terms and conditions of employment for members of UAW bargaining units,” said Rafael Jaime, president of UAW 4811, in the press release. “As a result, the UAW is requesting to meet and confer over this policy(s), including the impact of the decisions.”

Undergraduate Students Association Council President Adam Tfayli said in a written statement on behalf of USAC that the UCLA administration, despite meeting with members of the council, has not listened to their requests to involve the student body in conversations about the policy change.

“We (USAC) reject the University of California and UCLA’s characterization in the press  – and today’s time place manner policy changes  – that administrators have been widely ‘consulting’ students on the repressive policies currently being announced or that we have ‘reviewed, discussed and revised’ the policies announced with them,” Tfayli said in the statement.

The university intends to reprimand individuals who do not comply with the new policies, Beck and Gorden said in the announcement. The policies state that the chancellor has the authority to order individuals to leave the campus, something administrators previously threatened protesters with.

“Non-compliance may result in legal penalties; if the person is a student or employee, that person may also be subject to discipline in accordance with university and UCLA policies and any relevant collective bargaining agreements,” Beck and Gorden said in the announcement.

Members of the public may share feedback on the policy on the UCLA Administrative Policies and Procedures website.