The Tartan

On Feb. 12, the Auto(nomous) Body Shop (ABS), a mutual aid group focused on reproductive health, abortion, and harm reduction, visited Carnegie Mellon University for an event facilitated by the university’s University Health Services (UHS) Health Promotion team. The event, which provided students with free reproductive health supplies and harm reduction materials, was met with administrative and police presence after concerns were raised about permit documentation and signage displayed on the ABS van.

Carnegie Mellon has described its involvement as procedural, stating that its response was related to ensuring proper event documentation and compliance with university guidelines. ABS, however, claims the response primarily focused on signage referencing Palestine, raising concerns about how the university enforces its policies on expressive content.

This incident follows Carnegie Mellon’s recent updates to its Expressive Activity Policy, announced at the start of the fall 2024 semester. In a university-wide email, administrators outlined new restrictions on where and how protests and demonstrations can take place on campus. Under the revised guidelines, any gathering expected to exceed 25 participants must be preapproved by the Student Leadership, Involvement, and Civic Engagement (SLICE) office at least three business days in advance.

This recent policy change has sparked concerns among students, faculty, and advocacy groups about potential limitations on free speech. Some members of the campus community have questioned whether the presence of Carnegie Mellon police and administrators at the Feb. 12 event, as well as the request for ABS to remove its sign, reflect a broader trend of increased regulation over expressive content.

Carnegie Mellon police were present at the Feb. 12 event and engaged with ABS organizers. ABS also claims that staff from Student Affairs referred to themselves as members of an “Expressive Activity Task Force.” However, Carnegie Mellon has denied that such a task force exists. 

According to ABS, the focus of the engagement was a sign displayed on the ABS van that read, “Free Palestine, End the Genocide.” University representatives stated that the intervention was due to concerns that the sign was not within the scope of the event’s purpose, which was focused on reproductive health and harm reduction.

The Tartan reached out to Auto(nomous) Body Shop Student Vanbassadors, the program that is directly responsible for the event. Katie Emmert, a senior at the University of Pittsburgh and co-director of the Auto(nomous) Body Shop’s Vambassador program, elaborated on ABS’s perspective.

In an effort to clarify how the event was coordinated, The Tartan reached out to Carnegie Mellon’s UHS Health Promotion team, which played a role in bringing ABS to campus. The team declined to comment and instead directed inquiries to University Communications and Marketing.

In response to The Tartan’s inquiries, Cassia Crogan, the Interim Director of Media Relations at Carnegie Mellon’s University Communications & Marketing, representing Carnegie Mellon, stated that the event was not classified as an expressive activity and that university intervention was tied to ensuring the event followed administrative guidelines. 

She explained that Carnegie Mellon police initially arrived because required documentation from Facilities Management Services was not visibly displayed in the ABS van. Once it was determined that the event was university-sponsored, Student Affairs staff requested that “unrelated political speech” be removed from display.

The University Health Services Health Promotion team sponsored and facilitated an event in the Merson Courtyard bringing the Autonomous Body Shop vendor to promote reproductive rights and harm reduction supplies for Carnegie Mellon students,” Crogan states, “It was not registered through the expressive activity procedures nor was it required to be.”

Carnegie Mellon maintains that the intervention was not politically motivated but was instead a matter of administrative policy enforcement.

When asked whether the university considered ABS’s position that genocide is a reproductive justice issue, Carnegie Mellon declined to answer.

Carnegie Mellon also declined to answer some questions about the incident, stating: “The other questions were based on misinformation put on social media by the vendor, so we didn’t believe it was appropriate to address their conjecture.” 

ABS describes the university’s response differently.

In a statement issued by ABS, the group claims that Carnegie Mellon’s intervention was not merely about administrative procedures but focused on concerns about its political messaging. ABS stated that university police and individuals they identified as part of an “Expressive Activity Task Force” spent over 1.5 hours questioning their event permit, despite the event being pre-approved by University Health Services.

“They attempted multiple times to find a problem with our permit and held several side conversations that could have been resolved more efficiently,” ABS wrote.

According to ABS, university representatives informed them that a complaint had been made about the Palestine sign and that it was not aligned with the approved focus of the event.

“It is very clear to us that genocide is a Reproductive Justice (RJ) issue, and we handed them a flier explaining it,” ABS wrote. In their statement, they write that “genocide violates the 3rd basic tenant of Reproductive Justice: […] The right to raise your children in a safe and healthy environment.”

Additionally, ABS claims that Carnegie Mellon officials raised concerns over the placement of the sign, stating that it was “too far” from the group’s reproductive justice materials to demonstrate a clear connection.

According to the representative from ABS, the organization has hosted similar events at the University of Pittsburgh and Chatham University, and there were no interventions from university administration and campus police. 

After discussions with university officials, ABS stated that they moved the sign inside the van, where it remained visible but was no longer displayed externally.

“The Carnegie Mellon police left (saying ‘this is a waste of our time’), but the Expressive Activity Task Force remained,” the statement added.

In addition to the Feb. 12 event, ABS also reported that its Feb. 14 Lunch and Learn event was relocated at the last minute, moving from its originally planned central location to a third-floor conference room. ABS stated that they were informed Carnegie Mellon police might be stationed outside the event location, noting that the police presence “seemed to stem from learning that the founder of ABS was assisting with the event.” 

Carnegie Mellon did not provide a response to inquiries about why the location was changed or whether police were officially assigned to monitor the Lunch and Learn event.

While Carnegie Mellon maintains that this event was not classified as an expressive activity, ABS has questioned whether mentioning Palestine was automatically categorized as such.

“It seems to us that, at least in this situation, ‘expressive content’ meant any content about Palestine,” ABS stated.

Currently, Freedom of Expression Policy, Freedom of Expression Guidance, and Expressive Activity Registration guidelines are under the 30-day Comment Period. “The broader university community will be invited to comment on the policy, guidance and expressive activity registration procedures during a 30-day comment period to help inform the finalized policy,” Crogan states. During this time, the Carnegie Mellon community members are invited to ask questions, or provide comments or suggestions for these Policies via the Comment Form. 

However, when asked if the university would hold a public forum with students, Crogan stated that leadership had met with student government and advisory groups but did not confirm whether a public discussion open to the broader student body would take place.

ABS has stated that it will continue its work distributing reproductive health resources while advocating for broader discussions around free expression, reproductive justice, and Palestine.

“We will continue to align ourselves with organizations and individuals who are fighting against fascism, genocide, and the erosion of our rights,” their statement read.

With Carnegie Mellon’s Expressive Activity Policy under review and ongoing discussions about how political messaging is handled at university-sponsored events, the broader conversation surrounding free expression policies on campus is expected to continue.