UT Dallas Students Launch Independent Newspaper After Clash Over Pro-Palestinian Protest Coverage
University of Texas at Dallas students have established an alternative newspaper called The Retrograde after the university removed their former editor-in-chief and newspaper stands from campus. The conflict began when Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez, then-editor of the official student publication The Mercury, defended the newspaper's coverage of pro-Palestinian protests on campus in May 2024. By January 2025, Olivares Gutierrez and his colleagues had launched their independent publication, distributing their first print edition by hand after university officials removed campus newsstands.
The dispute highlights growing tensions between student journalists and university administrators amid the broader context of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses across Texas and the nation.
From Mercury to Retrograde: A Fight for Press Freedom
The Mercury, UT Dallas' official student newspaper, had published a physical edition since the fall of 2024 when students went on strike to protest Olivares Gutierrez's firing. The students claim the university administration retaliated against them for their coverage of a May 1, 2024, protest in which state troopers dismantled an encampment and arrested 21 people, including an art history professor.
"I don't want to be the sole knower of this," Olivares Gutierrez said, referring to information he uncovered through public records requests that revealed the university had quietly updated its free speech guidelines to prohibit tents and barricades following the protests1.
The Retrograde's first print edition, published on January 23, 2025, featured a purple spread with the headline "Public records revealed. " The spread detailed what Olivares Gutierrez discovered after examining approximately 1,000 emails administrators had sent and received following the pro-Palestine protests.
Administrative Interference and Allegations of Censorship
According to the student journalists, after The Mercury published stories questioning the university's decision to bring in state troopers, administrators replaced their adviser with one who wanted to attend editorial meetings and review stories before publication. When Olivares Gutierrez resisted these changes, the adviser called for his termination.
Tensions escalated in September 2024 when Olivares Gutierrez was removed as editor-in-chief during what he described as a "last-minute meeting" of the Student Media Operating Board (SMOB). He alleges the university failed to follow its procedures when considering his appeal.
Maria Shaikh, former managing editor of The Mercury who now manages The Retrogradedescribed the emotional toll of the transition: "I remember ending up in tears a couple of times because there was so much we were unsure about”
University Response and Denial of Content-Based Decisions
UT Dallas officials have denied their decisions had anything to do with The Mercury's content. They stated they hope to revive The Mercury after changing how student media is governed.
University officials declined to comment on specific disciplinary proceedings or personnel matters, only noting that The Mercury's prior adviser served on an interim basis and is currently assistant director of student media. They also said they are working with student government, faculty, and staff to create a new advisory committee that could revise student media bylaws.
Katherine Morales, UT Dallas' associate vice president of media relations, explained that police were called on students in the Mercury office because one student repeatedly refused to leave after hours, and the office was not a public space. Regarding the removal of newspaper kiosks, she noted they're considered a limited public forum, but students can still distribute literature in common areas.
The Context: Pro-Palestinian Protests and University Response
The conflict between The Mercury and the UT Dallas administration occurred against pro-Palestinian protests at universities across Texas. On May 1, 2024, students and faculty at UT Dallas began pitching tents at Chess Plaza, demanding the UT system divest from military companies manufacturing munitions for Israel.
Ten tents were set up by noon that day, and approximately 100 students were gathered. At 4:00 p.m., a mixture of Department of Public Safety troopers, Collin County, and campus police officers moved into the crowd, arresting at least 20 people and dismantling the encampment. During the operation, a Fox 4 reporter was reportedly struck and injured by an officer with bolt cutters while attempting to record the arrest of an assistant art history professor.
This followed similar actions at the University of Texas at Austin, where President Jay Hartzell had called in state troopers to break up encampments. UT Dallas President Richard Benson took similar measures, though his actions received less attention from state lawmakers.
First Amendment Concerns and Student Press Rights
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) have advocated for The Mercury's former editors. In a November 2024 letter to UT Dallas, they insisted the student media bylaws be amended to give student editors greater autonomy in leadership, discipline, and policy decisions.
"The SMOB's oversight authority over The Mercury and other UTD student media directly invites the kind of impermissible content control prohibited by the First Amendment," the groups wrote in their letter, which reportedly went unanswered.
Jonathan Gaston Falk, a staff attorney at the Student Press Law Center, noted that courts have repeatedly ruled that the First Amendment forbids college administrators from censoring or taking adverse action against student publications unless they can show that the story would lead to a violent disruption in the educational environment, is obscene, libelous, or invades someone's privacy.
"Unfortunately, this movement of protests has called that into question a bit, but there are still plenty of effective models," Gaston Falk said regarding the possibility of student media maintaining university support and editorial independence.
Building an Independent Student Voice
Despite not having a journalism degree program, UT Dallas students have demonstrated a remarkable commitment to establishing independent media. According to the Brechner Center for the Advancement of the First Amendment, the Retrograde is pursuing 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, a model used by only about 52 student media outlets nationwide as of 2024.
The students designed The Retrograde's website in just two weeks while waiting for Olivares Gutierrez's appeal to be processed. They refused to surrender Thurury's Instagram password to the university, arguing that students had created and maintained the account instead; they renamed it and directed followers to The Retrograde's website.
The students' determination paid off when they received a $900 advertisement from FIRE in January 2025, which enabled them to print their first physical edition. Despite challenges, they distributed 1,900 copies of The Retrograde, with only 33 remaining as of early February.
Shaikh, who had worked her way up at The Mercury from a $150-per-month copy editor to a $750-per-month managing editor, found the transition to an unpaid position at The Retrograde daunting. She worried they wouldn't attract students to work without compensation, but that hasn't been an issue.
The Power of Public Records
The main story in The Retrograde's inaugural print edition resulted from a public records request that cost the students nearly $3,000. They expect to receive more records and plan to review and report on them in the coming months.
On October 10, 2024, student affairs reportedly fired all ten remaining members of The Mercury's managing staff, including Shaikh, who, as interim editor-in-chief, should have triggered a separate SMOB vote according to procedures but did not.
After being recognized by the UTD Student Government as the official school newspaper, The Retrograde raised over $2,400 through GoFundMe, plus additional grants and sponsorships. Through public information requests, they claim to have collected well over 500 pages of internal documents regarding the administration's actions against The Mercury.
"It felt delicious... These people were willing to forsake the Mercury, willing to go and form a new student newspaper entirely from the ground up as a nonprofit," Olivares Gutierrez said. "And that's a lot of commitment. That's a lot of effort to put in as a student. So I appreciated it".
Broader Implications for Student Press Freedom
The situation at UT Dallas reflects broader concerns about student press freedom across the country. According to FIRE, student journalists covering protests related to the Israel-Hamas war have faced unprecedented pressure, with some being expelled and arrested in the past year.
FIRE has characterized UT Dallas as having "a troubling history of trying to silence students," noting this wasn't the first time the university faced accusations of stifling free speech. In 2023, it reportedly removed three boulders on campus—known as "Spirit Rocks"—after groups painted dueling pro-Israel and pro-Palestine messages on them.
The Student Press Law Center, founded in 1974, provides free legal help and information to student journalists and educators through a legal hotline and educational materials on media law topics. It also trains student journalists on First Amendment issues and builds state-based coalitions to protect student press freedom.
Future outlook
As The Retrograde continues establishing itself as an independent voice on campus, the students remain committed to holding the university accountable. They are currently working through over 1,500 pages of emails obtained through their Freedom of Information Act request, with Olivares Gutierrez noting that "a lot of the information in there is damning"
The conflict at UT Dallas underscores the ongoing tension between institutional control and press freedom on college campuses. As universities navigate controversial topics like the Israel-Hamas war and its associated protests, student journalists' role in documenting these events—and the institutional response to them—remains a critical test of First Amendment principles in academic settings.
For now, The Retrograde's name serves as a clever reference to its predecessor and a commentary on what the students perceive as a backward movement on free speech issues at their university. "We are seeing the school backslide, and we want to make sure that each step backward is criticized and documented," Olivares Gutierrez told FIRE.