New flyers directed at SMU President Jay Hartzell were found in McElvaney Commons and Hughes-Trigg Student Center on Friday, May 1, just one day after dozens of flyers were posted on multiple campus buildings.
Similar to the flyers found on Wednesday, April 30, the new flyers contain images of Hartzell and references to Israel and free speech. The first, found in a first-floor Hughes-Trigg men’s bathroom, contains two speech bubbles– one that’s crossed out, and another that reads “Protect Israel.” Along with a colorized photo of Hartzell giving a speech, the flyer reads, “Both are free speech. Why is only one allowed at SMU?”
The second poster was found in the late afternoon inside a co-ed, first-floor bathroom in McElvaney Commons by a resident assistant. The top of the flyer had three phrases— “War is peace,” “Campus is neutral” and “Hartzell loves you.” Beside a photo of a cattle skull, the flyer read “Criticize Israel. Die like cattle.” In addition to an edited photo of the top half of Hartzell’s face, the black-and-white flyer contains cropped images from Apple’s first Macintosh commercial, which aired in 1984.
Mustangs for Israel President Harrison Stein said that he felt the posters were an unfair characterization of Hartzell and a concerning display of antisemitism.
“As a Jewish student at SMU, I find it upsetting that these posters were put up with a demeaning nature both to Israel and President Hartzell, especially in an era of heightened antisemitism,” Stein said.
It is unconfirmed whether the flyers were made by the same party. All flyers, from both Wednesday and Friday, have since been taken down. University administration responded to questions about flyers found on Wednesday night, which SMU police are investigating.
The administration provided a statement to The Daily Campus on SMU Police’s involvement in the investigation and the institutional neutrality policy.
“SMU Police documented and collected posted materials in several locations across campus as part of routine response to items placed on non-designated surfaces,” the administration said in an email to The Daily Campus. “The University is reviewing the incident and will continue to assess it based on available information.”
Stein said he appreciates that police stepped in.
“I am glad to hear that SMU PD responded immediately to these posters by removing them and launching an investigation,” Stein said.
On Wednesday, President Hartzell released a statement on “Institution Neutrality” in a campus-wide email. The administration clarified to The Daily Campus that the announcement was not the result of a single incident, but instead a policy to formalize SMU’s neutrality practices.
“As President Hartzell shared in his message, this policy formalizes the University’s recent practice around institutional neutrality,” the administration stated in an email to The Daily Campus. “It is part of a broader effort to support open dialogue and ensure the University itself does not take positions on external issues.”
Dale Carpenter, Judge William Hawley Atwell Chair of Constitutional Law in the Dedman School of Law, said that universities that did not partake in institutional neutrality could inadvertently create repercussions for students and faculty.
“When a university never takes public positions on public policy matters, it places the weight of the institution behind one side and creates concerns among students, faculty and staff that they will face repercussions,” Carpenter said. “This effect is produced even if the university never takes such actions against those who disagree… that fear tends to chill ongoing debate on campus.”
The change to Policy 6.4, which prohibits the display of any object in University windows, specifically applies to any outward-facing building surfaces, where displays may be perceived as conveying a University position to the public.
Senior Ashley Jones disapproved of the original policy change but felt that the flyers were a poor response to the announcement.
“Honestly, I am not sure why the flyers being posted out of protest are displaying Israel and Hartzell’s face in conjunction,” Jones said. “I think that is wrong and definitely the wrong form of protest. Making posters that are just slandering Hartzell is making it difficult for those who oppose the policy to be taken seriously.”
The policy includes dorm windows and residential facilities. Jones, a former resident assistant in Kathy Crow Commons, said that SMU had previously allowed students to have political flags in their windows.
“I was an RA during the 2024 election season, and students had Make America Great Again flags on their doors and on their windows,” Jones said. “When me and a couple of RAs brought that to [Resident Life and Student Housing’s] attention, they were like, ‘The students pay for those rooms, so they can do whatever they want because that’s their property.’”
Jones feels that all students deserve the right to express their beliefs through flags and that the new policy violates that right.
“To me, posting a variety of different flags throughout campus would be a better representation of the outrage [and] disapproval of the University’s new policies,” Jones said. “Students of all backgrounds attend SMU and deserve to express that via flags, if they choose to.”
All items, not just flags, found in violation of the updated Policy 6.4 are subject to removal, according to the university.
“The policy addresses materials placed on outward-facing windows and doors that use those surfaces to project a message or could be interpreted as representing the University,” the administration stated. “As a facilities-use matter, items placed in non-designated areas may be removed under University policy, regardless of content.”
According to the university, Hartzell discussed the policy with Faculty Senate and Student Senate leaders. Former Student Body President Will Leathers heard about the policy on September 17, 2025, when Hartzell shared the statement he sent to SMU’s Turning Point USA chapter following the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
SMU Turning Point President Preston Patten had previously urged President Hartzell to issue a statement on the assassination, but Hartzell declined, citing the Kalven Report and institutional neutrality. He then shared the email with Leathers in addition to a copy of the full Kalven Report.
“This might help you and other student leaders better understand the University’s position on making institutional statements, the intellectual foundation for that position, and the connection between our practice and a campus characterized by free speech, open dialogue and debate,” Hartzell said in his email to Leathers.
Hartzell and other administrators at SMU have refrained from making statements on Kirk or other events external to the University in his first year as president. However, Hartzell did make multiple university-wide statements regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict as president of The University of Texas at Austin, as reported by The Daily Texan on Oct. 23, 2023.
“I have zero tolerance for the antisemitic actions targeting our Jewish community or the hate-filled actions targeting our Palestinian and Muslim communities,” Hartzell stated on Oct. 17, 2023. “Speech is protected on our campus; violence is not. We will be active in identifying any perpetrator and will strictly enforce our rules for safe behavior toward others. We are one UT community, and we will fiercely protect it.”
The Daily Texan reported that in his first statement on Oct. 13, 2023, Hartzell “continued to affirm increased protection for Jewish organizations on campus, but made no specific mention of Palestinian or Muslim students.” The day prior, three men unaffiliated with UT had disrupted an event held by the Palestine Solidarity Committee, calling the students “f*cking terrorists.”
Stein feels that Hartzell has done a good job protecting free speech for all groups at SMU, including the Jewish community.
“I want to make clear that President Hartzell has been a strong ally of the Jewish community at SMU and to all other students across campus, no matter their affiliation,” Stein said. “I hope that incidents like this do not occur in the future, and we can continue to maintain constructive dialog while ensuring SMU remains a place for intellectual ideas and meaningful discussions.”
Sophia Pardo and Melanie Jackson contributed reporting to this story.
Editor’s Note: An update to this story anonymized sources at their request, who contributed a photo of a flyer.
