One year since the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, groups on campus and throughout the Iowa City area are reflecting on how free speech has been expressed in the past year at the University of Iowa.

With the Israel-Hamas war polarizing dinner tables and campuses across the United States, the Office of Student Life said Iowa has had to take a supportive role in ensuring all student voices are heard.

Eric Rossow, a UI graduate, has been with the Division of Student Life for 15 years. Rossow has worn many different hats during his time, whether it was doing administrative tasks or planning events.

“The University Events Committee is the apparatus, or the group, we use on campus that helps support student organization events that are happening on campus,” Rossow said.

Many events are held within the confines of campus every year, including ones that might be considered controversial.

“We kind of choose what the hot topics are on campus. We’ve already covered the topics of transgenderism, pro-life versus pro-choice, and dismantling DEI,” Jasmyn Jordan, chairwoman of the UI and national chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, said.

The most recent event that Young Americans for Freedom held was on Monday, exactly one year after the attack on Israel. The group brought in speaker Ian Haworth, a pro-Israel conservative writer, speaker, and podcast host, to commemorate a year of war.

“We feel like there are a lot of myths being told about Israel and supporting Israel, so we wanted to debunk those and also advocate for the hostages,” Jordan said.

A few days before the speaker, Jordan said a poster promoting the event was defaced and later removed outside the Iowa Memorial Union.

“The biggest issue that led us to talk with the vice president of student life, and then one of [the] president’s staff members, was when our banner was defaced on Monday with antisemitic messages. We met with them to make sure that antisemitism is condemned on campus, but also to discuss the security measures that would be in place for our event,” Jordan said.

When a high-profile event takes place, different entities, including the Department of Campus Safety, work together to make up the University Events Committee.

“Campus Safety has a role on the University Events Committee so they’re able to kind of assess what the needs may be for particular events based on how the event is presented to them,” Rossow said.

The collaboration of the Division of Student Life, Campus Safety, and student organizations helps ensure free speech is protected across campus, Rossow explained, whether an individual is speaking at an event or protesting one.

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“The university is committed to speech on any issue, whether that’s on one side of the issue, or the other side of the issue. We as a public institution remain committed to the First Amendment,” Rossow said. “If one group is bringing in a speaker, we need to make sure and work with the group to make sure that that speaker is allowed to speak, that they aren’t shouted down.”

Before his visit to the university, Haworth was shouted down during a campus speech at the University of Kentucky back in March. Haworth brought concerns to the Young Americans for Freedom members and Jordan about the incident before his speech held on Monday.

“He had personally talked to me and wanted to make sure that that wouldn’t happen at our campus, to make sure that the speaker gets to exercise their full First Amendment rights,” Jordan said.

Rossow stressed the importance of the Free Speech website when planning for larger events, especially this year in the case of the Israel-Hamas war.

To ensure students know their rights and their acts of protest don’t get shut down, like in the case of the pro-Palestinian encampment in May, the website helps to outline students’ rights to free expression on campus. The encampment was shut down due to violation of the university’s policies on facilities use.

“Community members are permitted to exercise their First Amendment rights in outdoor areas of campus if it complies with reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.” the free speech website reads.

The website includes a free expression guide, the ability to explore the constitution and report free speech concerns, and a statement from the university regarding free speech at public institutions.

“Individuals planning on-campus expressive activity, including public demonstrations or protests, are required to follow all policies, procedures, and regulations,” the website reads.

The university also has other resources available to help students understand their rights on campus.

The policies are not limited to free speech in terms of speakers on campus. This week, and since the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, “peace rallies” have been held on the Pentacrest every Friday.

“The way it evolved originally was as a response to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and it did not have any formal gathering of citizens. It’s not highly organized, but people do feel moved to come,” community activist Ed Flaherty said.

Flaherty has been a core part of these peace rallies since they were first started in 2003 by Iowans for Peace and Veterans for Peace. Since then, whoever feels the need to come can show up on the Pentacrest every Friday during the evening hours.

“The Palestine-Israel’s Middle East issue has been the dominant focus of these rallies in the last year, and the attendance at those has been increased because of that situation,” Flaherty said. “If you go back to where has the United States been in the last 20 years, we have either been in a state of war or in a state of preparing for war. So, peace is the issue.”

In the over-two decades that the Pentacrest has been used for these rallies, they have remained peaceful.

“There really has not been any friction between the peace rally and the university, and I’m grateful. You know this idea of freedom of speech we take for granted. It’s a great thing to be able to speak our minds,” Flaherty said.

Regardless of the side of the conflict students and community members are on, the university encourages and prioritizes free expression on campus.

During a protest on campus held on Oct. 5 for “International Day of Action for Palestine,” a counter-protest occurred.

“It is good that they’re making sure that there’s an open space for dialogue on both sides of the issue while making sure that people on either side are safe,” Jordan said.