Santa Barbara Court Packed as UCSB Police Seek Access to Pro-Palestinian Instagram Accounts

The last year of student protests against the Israel–Hamas war has sprouted into legal drama for UC Santa Barbara. 

UCSB students and faculty packed a county courtroom on Friday, silently protesting search warrants into two pro-Palestinian student Instagram accounts — @saygenocideucsb and @ucsbliberatedzone — suspected of orchestrating the June occupation and vandalism of Girvetz Hall. 

The UCSB Police Department issued these warrants on September 11 as part of their investigation into alleged kidnapping, vandalism, burglary, and conspiracy by occupiers.  

Police seek to identify the account holders. However, the broad probe would also reveal other information, such as the IP addresses of those who simply liked, commented, or interacted with the pages.   

A motion to block these warrants was filed on September 25, arguing that there was no probable cause to connect account holders to the occupation. On Friday morning, both sides presented their arguments. 

In June, pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves inside Girvetz Hall and used fake dead bodies, red paint, and rubble to recreate a war scene outside the building and in a ground-floor classroom. “SAY GENOCIDE” was written in bold on the classroom’s chalkboard, and banners around the building displayed messages demanding UCSB to “acknowledge genocide.” According to court records, the total cost of damage was $40,000

The UC and its governing board, represented by attorneys Jonathan Miller and Anthony Davis, allege that, in addition to burglarizing and damaging the building, occupiers frightened the custodial staff and escorted them out of the building, which they claim was kidnapping.  

A janitor hiding in a closet or being ordered to leave a building is not kidnapping, countered defense attorney Addison Steele, representing someone who may be affected by the release of information. 

“These kids are understandably terrified to be under investigation for unknown kidnapping charges,” he said. 

Steele seemed bemused as he countered the charges, saying the search warrants are “not even in the parking lot of the ballpark” of probable cause. “How is Instagram connected to what happened in Girvetz Hall?” he posed. “There is no nexus between the photos and who damaged Girvetz Hall.… I’m not seeing a connection between someone clicking ‘Like’ and in that they committed a crime.”

He further charged that the warrant cast too broad a net in what he called a UCPD “fishing expedition,” putting likers and commenters “in danger of having police show up and question them, which is inappropriate.” 

However, Miller noted that posts on the @saygenocideucsb Instagram account “take credit for the unlawful occupation of Girvetz Hall.” 

Occupiers fled the building before police could arrive, so no arrests were made. But during the occupation, the @saygenocideucsb Instagram account narrated the incidents. 

In a June 10 post, the same day the occupation started, they call themselves an “autonomous group of students, workers, and community members,” and say they “have taken Girvetz Hall.” In others, they ask followers to show their support and reiterate demands made to the administration.  

Miller argued that the posts were made in real time to mobilize others toward the ongoing occupation, and that protesters’ actions caused “fear and anxiety among janitorial staff.” 

Davis also charged that the occupation was a “concerted effort by a number of individuals,” adding that sifting through the haystack — i.e. likers, commenters — is necessary to “find the needle.”

UCPD, he assured, would discard “collateral” information about people who looked at the posts. 

“The UCPD gets to be the arbiter of this information?” Steele disputed. “At most, the account takes responsibility for occupying the building — a misdemeanor at most.” 

Jacob Snow, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, who filed an amicus brief in opposition to the warrant, further argued that the warrant violated the students’ First Amendment right to freedom of speech. He said that there is not sufficient evidence that the posters committed the crimes nor conspired to.

“California has a rich history of student activism,” he noted. “School speech should have the utmost protection.”

The regents’ attorneys argued that the taking of Girvetz was not a peaceful protest and that the First Amendment is “not boundless.” Students, of course, disagree. 

“These attempts at surveillance and criminalization are a direct threat to free speech, academic freedom, and digital privacy and represent an unsettling attempt by the UC Regents, UCPD, and UCSB administration to repress and intimidate students from further organizing on campus,” the UCSB Liberated Zone students said in a press release. 

“These legal battles are used to suppress students’ movement on campuses in order to extinguish the pressure we have built. We must resist.”

Superior Court Judge Pauline Maxwell said she was “concerned” that the search warrants were too broad, and instructed counsels to meet and “narrow” their issues and resolve their disagreements about the scope of the warrant. She scheduled the next hearing, where she will issue her ruling, for 9 a.m. on December 20. 

Legal cases have been filed across the UC system, on the sides of both protesters and the schools themselves. Schools like UCSB and UCLA, students noted, have spent millions to handle campus protests. 

“UCPD has acquired legal counsel and appears poised to continue spending money to fuel this sweeping attack on our civil rights and liberties,” they added.

Protests are not yet over, either, and UCSB Academics for Justice in Palestine and Students for Justice in Palestine have been regularly convening and holding poetry readings and demonstrations in front of the school’s library.  

“Mostly, there is continuity from last year in growing the movement’s strength,” said a student representative. 

Meanwhile, the war in the Middle East has only evolved. Just last week, the International Criminal Court indicted and issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes.