A group of more than 70 University of Arizona professors wants the university police to drop charges against two students who protested a Border Patrol visit to campus last month.

The university should instead focus on protecting the safety of its students and faculty, who have received death threats in the wake of the protest going viral, they said.

"Rather than its current emphasis on investigating and criminalizing free speech, the (University of Arizona Police Department) and administration's highest priority should be an immediate UA response to the death threats and the impact that the Border Patrol on campus has on many of our students, staff, and employees," the professors wrote.

The letter is the latest development in a weeks-long controversy over free speech rights on the Tucson campus. The university's response to the protest, and the charges against the two students, have faced scrutiny across the country.

What the professors want

The faculty members, part of a group called Professors of Color, wrote that they were "extremely troubled by the University of Arizona’s draconian response to the peaceful protest."

The professors asked UA President Robert Robbins to demand UA Police Chief Brian Seastone drop the charges against the two students and that the Dean of Students end its investigation into potential code of conduct violations.

Instead of investigating the students, the university should be protecting the two women who were charged and investigating the "death threats against them and taking steps to prioritize their safety and ability to continue their students," the professors wrote.

People on campus should be able to feel safe, and threats against students, faculty and staff hinder that ability, the professors wrote.

Specifically, the Chavez Building, which houses the Mexican American Studies department and the Adalberto & Ana Guerrero Student Center, was evacuated Tuesday because of "death threats," the letter claims.

"These threats are targeting Mexican American Studies faculty in the context of biased coverage of this incident across far-right extremist media," the professors wrote.

The professors want an investigation into the "multiple death threats directed at one of the students" who was charged, and those directed at Mexican American Studies faculty, staff and students.

"We believe that an immediate UA investigation into the death threats is in order and further actions provoking such behavior, including the return of Border Patrol to campus, should be immediately halted in the interests of safety," the professors wrote.

They also want to see a new policy to regulate the presence of Customs and Border Protection agents on campus.

The matter isn't a free speech struggle, they wrote, but a "failure" of Robbins' administration to "properly regulate the presence of uniformed and armed CBP on campus."

The Mexican American Studies faculty and staff also wrote a letter calling on Robbins to support the students and investigate threats.

Protest ignites free speech debate

On March 19, students protested a visit by Border Patrol agents to a meeting of a student club, the Criminal Justice Association.

Video of the protest subsequently went viral, spread mainly by people who opposed the students' actions. Conservative activist outlets like Breitbart and Judicial Watch, along with anonymous commenters on social media, pushed the narrative that protesters were out of line.

The videos posted on social media showed people recording outside the door where Border Patrol agents were speaking to students and calling the agents "Murder Patrol," "murderers" and "an extension of the KKK." Another video appeared to show a larger group of students following the agents after they left the meeting and chanting "Murder Patrol" until the agents got into their car to leave.

Robbins called the protest a "dramatic departure from our expectations of respectful behavior and support for free speech on this campus" in a letter on March 29, a week and a half later, after the protest gained traction among conservatives.

He announced in that letter that UA would charge two students with misdemeanors for their actions.

On Monday, two students were charged with class 1 misdemeanor, the most serious misdemeanor charge, for interference with the peaceful conduct of an educational institution. One of the students also faces an additional class 1 misdemeanor for threats and intimidation.

Threats against safety?

Anna Ochoa O'Leary, the Mexican American Studies department head, confirmed that the Chavez building was evacuated Tuesdsay.

A shooting threat was sent to the department via social media, and she and others decided it wasn't safe to ask professors and students to use the building, she told The Republic.

The threat was not determined to be credible, she said, but professors and students are still worried.

There's "maybe not a whole lot of confidence in how it was determined the threats weren't credible," she said.

The social media posts in question show numerous heated comments against the students and the Mexican American Studies department. A screenshot of the post was shared with The Republic.

One comment says "radicals" are teaching students at universities how to become activists.

"Believe it or not, there is an Army of so-called social justice warriors itching for a fight. But they will certainly run and cower like children when the shooting starts in their direction. And it will happen...only question is WHEN?" the post read.

Nolan Cabrera, an associate professor in the UA's Center for the Study of Higher Education, said there has been little public communication from Robbins' office about the threats or any investigation of them.

Robbins sent a letter to the entire campus community on Friday about free speech, but hasn't done something similar for student safety or the building evacuation, Cabrera said.

It seems to be a "disproportionate response," Cabrera said.

University response

UA spokesman Chris Sigurdson said the university received information yesterday from the Mexican American Studies faculty about a threat, which was sent to UA police.

"Some offices and functions in the Chavez building closed or cancelled as a precaution," Sigurdson said.

UA police and other law enforcement agencies "evaluated the message and the source of the message and determined there was not a threat to campus or to public safety," Sigurdson said.

The Chavez building is again open.

Reach reporter Rachel Leingang by email at rachel.leingang@gannett.com or by phone at 602-444-8157, or find her on Twitter and Facebook.

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