Disabled veteran speaks out after being arrested at Rutgers for hanging anti-Hamas flyers
Rutgers Law School graduate Yiorgos Maravelias said the university needs a 'leadership reckoning' following his arrest.
A Rutgers Law School student who mounted a counter-protest against anti-Israel demonstrators on campus was arrested by police after he refused to stop posting flyers that labeled Hamas as "savages."
Yiorgos "George" Maravelias, a disabled veteran who previously served as a United States Army First Lieutenant and deployed to Afghanistan, first engaged in campus activism in November 2023. He told Fox News Digital that after October 7, a vocal minority of law school students erected tables and hung flyers that criticized Israel's actions in Gaza.
"I set up a table right next to them with my beliefs, which is that Hamas are rapists, that they are monsters, savages. That October 7 was a terrorist attack. You know, basically, I believe that a lot of the statements that they apply towards Israel, I think they fully hold against America," he said.
Maravelias said he then began hanging his flyers on walls and spaces that were riddled with anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian content. Soon after, a woman began ripping down his posters.
Yiorgos "George Maravelias was arrested and charged on Rutgers' Newark campus after placing flags and flyers critical of Hamas around the lawn. (Christopher L. D’Alessandro)
"I addressed this person. I said, what are you doing? Like, why are you ripping down my flyers? And she told me that it was against the policy to put flyers where I had my flyers, which were right next to where these — there were these bulletin boards that the whole entire bulletin board was one speech and one viewpoint," he told Fox News Digital.
The woman, who was later identified as distinguished professor of law and Chancellor's Social Justice Scholar Sahar Aziz, escorted Maravelias up to Dean Cate Lysionek's office with his crumpled papers in hand. Maravelias claimed that Aziz was informed that no such policy prevented him from engaging in political speech.
Speaking in her individual capacity and not as a representative of Rutgers, Aziz refuted Maravelias' claim that she was informed no policy against his actions existed. She told Fox News Digital that at the time the flyers were posted, the law school had a signage policy prohibiting students from posting flyers on the bare walls of the law school atrium. Flyers could only be posted on the bulletin boards.
Aziz stated that Maravelias violated this policy when he posted numerous signs on the walls and claimed that no other flyers were taped on the atrium walls at the time.
Maravelias said Lysionek told him to report the incident to Dean Johanna Bond as there were consistent reports of Aziz interfering with the free speech of students opposed to the pro-Palestinian activists.
Aziz said she has not interfered with the free speech of students on campus, regardless of their viewpoints, and suggested there is no evidence of Maravelias' "false claim."
Anti-Israel posters are seen taped to the wall at the entrance of Rutgers' Center for Law & Justice. (Christopher L. D’Alessandro)
She noted that other faculty have hosted at least two pro-Israeli events featuring the Zionist Organization of America and Stand With Us. To her knowledge, the events occurred without interference.
"In stark contrast, there are external self-described Zionist organizations who have sought to censor Palestine-related programming hosted by the Center for Security, Race and Rights - which is an academic center focused on the civil rights of Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians. Fortunately, Rutgers University has an academic freedom policy that applies to all faculty regardless of viewpoint or identity," she added.
Maravelias said he brought the incident to the attention of Dean Johanna Bond and Dean Sarah K. Regina.
Bond allegedly declined to repudiate Aziz's actions and refused to meet with Maravelias to discuss the matter.
He also emailed Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway, alleging the school had violated his First Amendment rights.
"In the Army it's an open-door policy. You send it up the chain of command. I heard nothing," Maravelias said.
Dean Bond, Dean Regina, Lysionek, and President Holloway did not reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
He would again engage in a counter-protest in May when protesters set up an encampment on Rutgers' Newark grounds. Protesters hung signs with phrases like "From the river to the sea" and "Globalize the Intifada." They also created a list of demands — one of which stipulated that no military recruiters could be allowed on Rutgers campuses.
A list of demands for Rutgers administrators hung from a light pole by anti-Israel protesters. (Christopher L. D’Alessandro)
"I found that to be grotesque, disgusting, offensive. So, I decided to go down to Rutgers and participate with, once again, the speech that I had in the fall. Same, same exact point of view. Nothing that I would deem to be offensive. Nothing against Palestinian people, nothing racist, Islamophobic or bigoted otherwise," he said.
That night, several individuals ripped down his flyers. Campus security instructed him to file a complaint with the police.
"I go to the police. They say, 'Oh, we can't do anything about this.' So, I'm like, where's the accountability? Like, why is my speech being ripped down?" he told Fox News Digital.
The following day, Maravelias visited Dean Regina's office and asked what the rules were for posting around the school and how he could get accountability if anyone obstructed his speech. Leadership, according to Maravelias, had no answer.
"I said, 'I'm going to go participate in my speech. I'm letting you know right now that if anybody touches my flyers, it's tit for tat. They rip down mine; I'm gonna rip down theirs. I'm not gonna let anybody censor me while I'm participating in free speech,'" Maravelias recalled.
He then went outside and taped up flyers that criticized Hamas and tied small Israeli and American flags together. Maravelias said he was verbally excoriated by the pro-Palestinian crowd calling him a "baby killer, genocidal maniac, Zionist" and more. While he left the encampment's messages in place, activists tore them down as soon as he posted his flyers.
A flyer taped to a bench by Maravelias in front of the anti-Israel encampment at Rutgers. (Christopher L. D’Alessandro)
A large group of Rutgers University police officers then surrounded Maravelias. They allegedly asked to speak with him privately.
"I'm like, I'm going to post my flyers where their flyers are posted. If you want to talk to me, I'll talk right here. They kept on trying to, you know, reason with me or try to stop me from posting my flyers," he said.
One police officer instructed another to rip down his flyers that said, "Stand with Israel" and "Stand with America." Maravelias said he was told his speech was "inflammatory."
"I go, what happens if I continue to post my speech? Am I going to be arrested? Because if you're ripping down my flyers and I keep posting flyers like, where does this go? What's going to happen? He's like, yes, you'll be arrested," Maravelias said.
When he refused to stop posting flyers in the same area where the protest encampment had placed hundreds of signs, the police asked Maravelias to put his hands behind his back.
The Rutgers Police Department then arrested Maravelias, detained him at their station, fingerprinted and photographed him. He was in custody for several hours before being released.
Rutgers University Police Department did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Maravelias had charges filed against him for a petty disorderly persons offense.
This footage obtained by Fox News Digital shows Rutgers Police surround Maravelias as he gathers his flags and flyers. (Christopher L. D’Alessandro)
The summons issued to Maravelias said, "Within the jurisdiction of this court, purposely cause or recklessly create the risk of public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm by, specifically by creating a hazardous or physically dangerous condition by an act which serves no legitimate purpose of himself."
He graduated from Rutgers Law School soon after.
Maravelias said he does not believe there is anything wrong with Rutgers as an institution. Still, he said there needs to be an evaluation to see if people in leadership positions at the school are living up to university standards.
"I think we need to have a real leadership reckoning with the Rutgers institution, especially the law school," he said.
Charges against Maravelias were dismissed in July 2024 at the first substantive court date. Rutgers also filed student conduct administrative charges against him and refused to expunge them, according to his lawyer, Christopher J. D'Alessandro.
D'Alessandro was in the Army in the early 1990s. He went to college on a GI Bill and started working for the New Jersey State Parole Board in 1997. He re-enlisted in the New Jersey Army National Guard in 2005 and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, citing the impact of the 9/11 attacks. D'Alessandro continues to serve as a logistics officer and retired from parole in 2015.
He later attended Rutgers Law School and did a fellowship at Rutgers Law Associates. D'Alessandro is also the former VP of Veteran Alumni at Rutgers University.
A "Glory to our martyrs" sign is seen propped up on a tree at the Rutgers Newark campus. (Christopher L. D’Alessandro)
"This is an issue not just for [Maravelias], but for any veteran that would go to Rutgers, and I've encouraged many veterans to go to Rutgers Law School. In fact, I try to talk every veteran into going to Rutgers Law School," D'Alessandro told Fox News Digital.
"So, this is a problem that needs to be fixed because I want to be proud of the school I went to and I want to be able to tell a veteran in good conscience, this is a law school that you want to go to because they'll teach you how to obtain justice," he continued.
D'Alessandro said that the manner in which Rutgers addressed the Newark anti-Israel encampment was wildly divergent from the way they treated his client.
Citing a Rutgers statement, D'Alessandro, in his personal opinion, said that the school negotiated with the "pro-Hamas encampment," many of whom were non-students, and instead of applying laws, rules, and regulations, allowed the encampment residents to act with impunity.
Maravelias revealed that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka issued 10 housing stipends to encampment protesters because they were homeless.
He also noted that Rutgers had expressed no interest in settling the matter.
Baraka's office did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Maravelias said he received a letter directly from the school stating that while the conduct charges would not be pursued (as he had since graduated), should he ever re-enroll at Rutgers, the charges would be reinstated.
D'Alessandro said that to obtain the Body Worn Camera footage of Maravelias' arrest, Rutgers is requiring them to pay an $804 fee. In addition, they claim Rutgers has refused to produce CCTV surveillance footage of the event, claiming it would jeopardize campus security.
"I did not take the bar exam because I have been too distracted by fighting the criminal charges to study effectively. The actions of Rutgers taken against me also affect my being barred, as I have to pass Character and Fitness, disclosing all that has transpired to the Bar," Maravelias said.
D'Alessandro said Maravelias' situation reminds him of an old police adage he recalled from his time in law enforcement: "You might beat the rap, you won't beat the ride."
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While Maravelias had his charges dismissed, D'Alessandro said he was still arrested, publicly humiliated, made to feel like a criminal, taken down to the station, stuck in a cell, fingerprinted, and photographed. That booking will go into the system that anybody who looks up his client will be able to see.
Maravelias had no legal fees for the Defense. He was represented pro bono by a defense attorney.
D'Alessandro said the case is disappointing because, as a veteran who often represents other veterans in employment cases, they are a group who routinely have their rights violated.
"I learned how to be a lawyer at Rutgers. They taught me to do what I'm doing now. That's a school where I learned to seek justice for my clients. So, it's extremely disappointing that I have to go up against the place I graduated from because they denied a law student First Amendment rights. You can't even make that up," he said.
Rutgers Law School did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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