Emory University faces a lawsuit from three tenured professors over their arrests during a 2024 protest tied to the Israel-Hamas war, with the faculty members arguing the university departed from its own free-speech policies when it called in police and state troopers to break up the demonstration. The professors filed the case Thursday in DeKalb County State Court, according to the lawsuit described by Associated Press.
Noelle McAfee, a philosophy professor and one of the plaintiffs, said the litigation is about more than individual rights and faulted Emory for what she described as a failure to protect students, staff, and the university’s educational mission of free and critical inquiry. McAfee said Emory’s approach trained students to fear “getting arrested” rather than engaging in protest, and she tied the issue to the university’s obligation to allow peaceful expression on campus.
The lawsuit centers on events on April 25, 2024, when the professors said they were observers as some students set up tents on Emory’s main quad to protest the war. The professors said Emory called Atlanta police and Georgia state troopers without seeking alternatives, and they said that decision helped drive the scale of arrests—28, as described in the case—even though they said the arrests included members affiliated with the university.
McAfee said she was charged with disorderly conduct after she told an officer “Stop!” while an arrest was happening. Del Valle-Escalante, an English and indigenous studies professor, said he was trying to help an older woman when he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Fohlin, an economics professor, said she was thrown face-first to the ground when she protested officers pinning a protester and that she suffered a concussion and a spine injury; she was charged with misdemeanor battery of an officer.
The professors allege the response targeted them after their arrests, including threats and harassment that they said followed a broader pushback against campus protest activity. They said conservatives argued universities were failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitism and allowing lawlessness, and they described the resulting environment as part of what followed their detentions.
Emory, through spokesperson Laura Diamond, rejected the allegations. Diamond said in a statement that the university believes the lawsuit is without merit and said Emory acts appropriately and responsibly to keep its community safe from threats of harm, adding that it has confidence in the legal process.
The lawsuit seeks monetary relief that includes repayment for expenses the professors said they incurred defending themselves against misdemeanor charges that were later dismissed, plus punitive damages. McAfee said she is suing to press for accountability and to change how Emory responds to protest activity, and she described her discussions with then-president Gregory Fenves after her arrest.
McAfee said she served as president of the Emory University Senate after her arrest and that the Senate had helped draft the university’s open expression policy. She said she asked Fenves in fall 2024 why Emory police were not dropping the charges, and she said Fenves told her he wanted “to see justice.” McAfee said Emory later revised its open expression policy to more clearly prohibit tents, camping, occupations of university buildings, and demonstrations between midnight and 7 a.m.
The lawsuit arrives amid a wider pattern of litigation tied to campus demonstrations about the Israel-Hamas war and university management of protest speech. The AP report cited Palestine Legal, which said Tuesday it received 300% more legal requests in 2025 than its annual average before 2023, largely from college students and faculty.
Whatever the policy, McAfee said students remain fearful about protesting at Emory, framing it as a departure from “good trouble” as described by civil rights leader John Lewis.