UMD Hands-off study-in targets Trump administration policies 

Handwritten signs lined the front of McKeldin Library on Friday with phrases such as “Abolish ICE” and “This is a test” as students chanted in unison, “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcomed here.”

Dressed in fiery red, the crowd gathered to protest against the Trump administration and call on University President Darryll Pines to sign the Big Ten Mutual Defense Compact, a move they say would help protect the University of Maryland’s immigrant community.

“As students, we have a lot of power and we can influence what our administration does,” Maggie Faloon, freshman environmental science and policy major, said. 

Faloon works closely with 17 for Peace and Justice, an environmental justice group that helped organize the Hands Off UMD study-in protest. 

As part of the gathering, Faloon directed students to sign a postcard addressed to Pines, urging him to provide greater transparency on immigration issues and refuse cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. 

“We just wanted to organize students in order to tell Pines what we want, our demands to make him see that the students care,” she said. 

The study-in was part of a larger effort created by a national climate cohort called Campus Climate Network. The organization provides students with the resources and training to run a campaign on their campuses. Students across 18 additional universities used Friday as a national day of action. 

In light of recent changes conducted by the Trump Administration, including the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programs and the revocation of student visas, 14 social groups on campus participated in the study-in. 

In response to concerns about how the university addresses the shifting federal landscape, Pines released a statement on April 25, outlining his actions to protect the university.

“We are working in partnership with our local and federal government representatives, the office of the Maryland attorney general, our Big Ten peers, higher education associations, legal experts and other key partners,” Pines said. 

Pines, along with more than 400 additional university presidents, chancellors and officials, signed a letter through the American Association of Colleges and Universities expressing their strong opposition to political interference in higher education. 

However, protest coordinator and senior Leah Zahniser thinks more must be done.

“We are here today to tell the UMD administration that this is not enough,” Zahniser said.“The Trump administration will take any concession as a sign of weakness and push for more control and more assaults on our rights, because this is what autocrats do.”

Student participant Oluwadamilola “Lola” Akintoye, a senior economics major, joined the protest because she believed the university failed to support international students and worker rights. 

“I think that the university has a responsibility when they take on these workers and students to make sure that they are protected and taken care of,” she said. “That also requires transparency.”

Akintoye called out a plethora of events where she believed the university failed to protect its community, including when ICE was registered to attend the 2025 Spring Career & Internship Fair from Feb. 26-28 and later did not participate after receiving pushback. 

At the event, she signed a postcard to Pines pushing for credibility and transparency. 

To wrap up the study-in, in a 6-minute monologue, Zahniser demanded Pines to “do the right thing.”  

“You’ve got to make it stop,” she said. “We, the students at the university, demand it. We demand that you do the right thing.”