Flagstaff, AZ – After their September 4 “ICE out!” protest, members of the Flagstaff chapter of Students for a Democratic Society received identical Code of Conduct charges from Northern Arizona University. The charges meant the students were facing potential suspension or expulsion.

After holding a march, a sit-in, multiple call-ins, posting statements on social media, and sending a cease and desist notice from a lawyer, suspension or expulsion was avoided for all three students, and SDS Flagstaff declared victory over the university on September 28.

On Friday, September 11, SDS Flagstaff Vice President Sarah Rogala received an email informing her she was being charged with violations of the following Code of Conduct policies: “Other Rules,” “Failure to Comply,” and “Disruption.” Rogala was already on university probation due to similar charges stemming from SDS’s April 10 “ICE out” protest.

“Considering suspension was brought up as a possibility in that first hearing, when I had nothing on my record, I was thinking suspension was the most likely outcome of the hearing,” said Rogala.

On September 13, Claire Wagoner, president of SDS Flagstaff, received a notice from Jeffery D. McKay, NAU’s vice president for capital planning and campus operations. The letter stated that she is permanently trespassed from campus property for the repeated use of amplified sound equipment (megaphones) which were not registered with the university in advance. If Wagoner were to step foot on or drive through the NAU campus, she could potentially face several months in jail for trespassing.

“SDS is currently discussing our options with lawyers for rescinding this unconstitutional trespass order, which was served to restrict our First Amendment rights,” said Wagoner.

After Wagoner’s trespass order and the charges against Rogala, SDS Flagstaff organized a protest on September 18. Thirty minutes before the protest, two more SDS members, including Judah Francabandera, received the same charges as Rogala, with hearings scheduled for September 23.

The protest on September 18 started with a rally at NAU’s First Amendment Plaza and was attended by an estimated 80 to 100 people. At the rally, an SDS member read a speech written by Claire Wagoner, who could not attend due to the trespass given to her. Wagoner wrote, “Since the formation of our SDS chapter, we have been dealing with constant retaliation from NAU admin. They have made it abundantly clear they would rather target and punish student protesters than protect NAU students from ICE.”

Wagoner continued, “We can see clear as day that NAU is deeply afraid of the students rising together to demand better policies. They are doubling down in this fear, trespassing me for simply using a megaphone. They can and will arrest me and put me in jail for up to six months if I were to walk on campus, but we aren't scared!”

After the speech, the gathered crowd of students marched around the Student Union with the demands that the charges be dropped and NAU protect its students from ICE.

After being rescheduled multiple times, Rogala’s hearing was ultimately held on September 25. A sit-in and a call-in were held in support of Rogala. Lawyers were also contacted, and a cease and desist letter was emailed to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities and NAU President Cruz Rivera. The letter was also emailed to the Center for Inclusive Excellence and Access, whose program director, Bernadine Lewis, filed the charges against Rogala. These actions culminated in Rogala being told in her hearing with Julia L. Czekaj that the school was not considering suspending or expelling her, which were two of the most severe possible outcomes.

After Rogala’s hearing, and the hearings of the other students, SDS Flagstaff released a statement on social media on September 28 declaring victory and reaffirming their goal of fighting for “sanctuary campus” policies at NAU, which would restrict ICE officers’ presence on campus and ensure that campus staff do not cooperate with ICE.

“We have faced many challenges in the last two weeks, but we have not let ourselves get demoralized, we have fought back hard, learned lessons from the struggle, and won! So please join us as we resume our fight for a sanctuary campus at NAU! Because when we fight, we win!” the statement said.

#FlagstaffAZ #AZ #StudentMovement #NorthernArizonaUniversity #ImmigrantRights #FreeSpeech #Featured

Fight Back! News is circulating the following statement and call-to-action from National Students for a Democratic Society:

SDS members – Sarah Rogala, Jay Francabandera, community member Claire Wagoner, and one other student – are at threat of suspension, arrest, and job loss at Northern Arizona University due to protests that mobilized hundreds to say no to any ICE presence in Flagstaff, Arizona, as well as to say no to the opening of a new ICE office across NAU.

On Wednesday and Friday, Rogala and Francabandera face conduct hearings. We in SDS call on our supporters to call NAU on Wednesday Sept 23, and to tell them these hearings must end at once.

This is a flagrant violation of these students' and community member's First Amendment rights to free speech. Civil liberties and constitutional rights, especially ones as fundamental as the First Amendment, do not end at the threshold of a university, especially a public university, regardless of what made-up, slapdash, hastily fabricated, inconsistent, and unprecedented conduct policies might be sent in an email from one administrator to another.

College protest, flyering, and student assembly is a longtime tradition of campus life. Just because administrators would rather keep silent about Trump and ICE's crimes, does not mean they should have the power to crush student dissent and expression. We said no when similar attacks happened across universities in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and the Midwest, and we are saying no here now!

Call in on Wednesday morning, between 9am PDT and 5pm PDT (MDT Arizona), and help us defend free speech at Northern Arizona University!

When: Wednesday, September 23rd, between 9am and 5pm PDT (Arizona MDT)

Who to Call:

1. Megan Gavin, Dean of Students

928-523-5181

2. Justin Mallett, Vice President of “Inclusion Excellence” and Director of SPEAK

928-523-0373

3. Jose Luis Cruz Rivera, President of NAU

928-523-3232

Script:

“Hi there, my name is NAME and I am from, CITY, STATE. I am calling to say no to the conduct hearings on Sarah Rogala, Jay Francabandera, and a third SDSer whose hearing is also today, as well as to demand the repeal of the trespass warning and arrest threat on Claire Wagoner. We will call in until this repression on students at Northern Arizona University stops at once. Hands off campus free speech and the First Amendment right to assemble!”

#FlagstaffAZ #AZ #StudentMovement #NAU #PoliticalRepression #FlagstaffSDS

Student activists at Northern Arizona University, members of the Flagstaff Students for a Democratic Society chapter, are facing harassment and threats of suspension for holding anti-ICE rallies this past spring. One leader, Sarah Rogala, is facing a second round of conduct hearings heading towards suspension. Another leader, Claire Wagoner, has been trespassed by campus police and is threatened with arrest if she appears on campus.

We wholeheartedly condemn this violation of their First Amendment rights to free speech and the right to assembly.

Flagstaff SDS came into existence in January 2026. By February and March, they were holding rallies of up to 400 people each, first demanding a sanctuary campus and then denouncing the construction of a new ICE office across from NAU. These rallies culminated in a 200-student sit-in at the president's office, spanning dozens of student organizations. These demands clearly reflected the will of the student body. By mid-April, the administration hit both Rogala and Wagoner with bogus conduct hearings and threats of suspension.

A student group like SDS, which takes a fighting approach to organizing, is a special target for administrators. Justin Mallett, the vice president of NAU Center for “Inclusive Excellence and Access” and a stooge for administration, was heard saying, “I'll be damned before I let SDS become an official student organization.”

The retaliation bears an eerie resemblance to similar anti-free speech policies enacted across the country. In Florida, long-standing SDS chapters that have been around for over a decade have leaders facing potential suspensions for even witnessing the act of people passing out fliers, such as at the University of North Florida and Florida State University.

Student leaders at University of Texas Austin have been suspended for protesting Trump's compact, which sought to bribe universities to wipe out any ethnic cultural organizations, programs such as women's and gender studies, and any course that addresses racism or oppression. Students in Louisiana have been hit hard with constant conduct charges, even for simply for giving speeches about Palestine in other parts of the city, including off campus.

These anti-protest policies take many forms: so-called “time, place and manner” policies at schools such as Cal Poly Humboldt in California, where any expression-related activity has to be approved by the university; bald-faced criminalization, where youth, such as Claire Wagoner in Arizona and SDS leaders in Tampa, Florida, are trespassed from campus and told that campus police will arrest them if they appear; policies setting strict limits on the ability to meet, give out flyers, or hold protests where students can actually see them; and more.

These policies began to appear everywhere at the end of the encampment for Gaza movement in 2024. They have become a norm across campuses and are wielded against protests of ICE and of Trump.

University presidents, such as NAU President Cruz Rivera, want everyone to think that there is nothing wrong in the U.S. and nothing to protest. They lie. They side with the Trump administration for chump change. They want to force students to look the other way as ICE strives to deport record numbers of immigrants and sets up an office across from campus. They will trample on students so that ICE can have free rein over students and staff at NAU.

So far, the brave student organizers in SDS will not let them, and neither will we. We condemn NAU's violation of Rogala and Wagoner's First Amendment rights to free speech and the freedom of assembly. We call on all progressives to do the same. We assert our right to protest on campus, and we will not let it go without a fight.

And when we fight, we win!

#FlagstaffAZ #AZ #StudentMovement #ImmigrantRights #PoliticalRepression #ICE #NAU

Flagstaff, AZ – On Friday, September 4, the Flagstaff chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held their first protest of the school semester at Northern Arizona University (NAU). The organization has been fighting to demand a sanctuary campus, and has held multiple marches, call-in campaigns and sit-ins during meetings with university administration.

SDS Flagstaff President Claire Wagoner and Vice-president Sarah Rogala have been charged with several policy violations by the university’s administration for their protests and actions advocating for a sanctuary campus, including protesting the opening of an ICE administrative office in Flagstaff.

According to multiple SDS members, the organization as a whole also faces repression from university administration.

SDS member Eris Wolfer said, “Admin constantly restricts where we can distribute flyers, where we can table; we have to fight to reserve rooms to hold meetings. The policies being cited to restrict us are contradictory, confusing, or just entirely nonexistent when we look for them. The conservatives on campus aren't faced with the same scrutiny and are actively assisted when their events fail to capture attention, it all just feels really targeted.”

At the start of the September 4 protest, students gave speeches condemning both ICE and NAU admin. Claire Wagoner told the crowd, “NAU needs to immediately take action to become the ‘progressive’ campus they claim to be.”

Wagoner continued, “We know everything they say is a lie, they are willing to protect their image and profit over the well-being of their students.”

The final speaker, Judah Francabandera, said, “This year we have seen ICE take the lives of countless people, both with direct lethal force, and by starving them of their human needs. We have seen ICE lease a building just a mile off campus. They’ve already taken people out of our city.”

Francabandera concluded, “Will we be spineless? No? Then let’s fucking march!”

The students then marched from the south side of campus to Flagstaff City Hall, chanting on the NAU campus and the streets of downtown Flagstaff. The protesters carried both a handmade banner and flag reading “Students for a Democratic Society,” as well as signs with such slogans as “Stop deportations!” “ICE kills children!” and “Join us against ICE!”

As they marched across campus, several students not participating in the march opened their windows to shout words of support.

While heading both to and from Flagstaff City Hall, the students marched through a monthly city art fair known as the First Friday ArtWalk. Hundreds of attendees parted the way for the protestors and cheered them on.

The protest ended with speeches in which anyone to share their perspective. One student gave an account of how her aunt was taken by ICE. SDS member Giovanni Alvarez stated, “A family friend of mine, who is Navajo, by the way, was detained by ICE and was taken to Page, Arizona. She has no family in Page, and never went there prior.”

Alvarez added, “I have been stopped by ICE myself when I lived in Scottsdale. They asked me if I was ‘legal,’ if I had ‘paperwork.’ I was born here in Arizona, what do you want from me?”

SDS Flagstaff plans to escalate its campaign for a sanctuary campus while continuing to oppose the ICE office in Flagstaff.

#FlagstaffAZ #AZ #StudentMovement #ImmigrantRights #ICE #SanctuaryCampus #PoliticalRepression