Texas State University threatened to call police on a fired professor who joined a campus protest, according to a recording shared with The Chronicle. The university’s stance was that only students and employees may assemble in certain spaces for “expressive activities,” and that protests by non-affiliated individuals are restricted. The professor, Thomas Alter, has an active history of litigation over due process after his 2025 termination. A restraining order reinstated him but did not restore teaching duties, and the March confrontation now raises First Amendment and “time, place, and manner” questions. FIRE is challenging Texas State’s protest policy in court, and the case could affect how universities implement protest rules without selective enforcement or content-based restrictions.