Activists wear inflatable costumes to protest UConn’s handling of academic freedom  

Activists wear inflatable costumes to protest UConn’s handling of academic freedom.

Faculty members and students chanted about protecting academic freedom through inflatable costumes outside of Homer Babbidge Library on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025.  

Ariel Lambe, an associate history professor at the Waterbury campus, said the reason for the end-of-semester protest was to draw attention to patterns in the way the University of Connecticut’s administration handles free speech.  

“[The dismissal of protestors] struck a lot of us that the administration is scared of our message,” Lambe said through the inflatable green frog costume. “So, we decided to be joyful, to be fun.” 

Protestors were dispersed during a rally on Sept. 10 because of chanting that was said to disrupt regular operations, according to previous reporting by The Daily Campus. Lambe said that removing protestors from the American Association of University Professors and the Graduate Employee and Postdoc Union (GEU) was “totally disproportionate” to what she said was just protestors standing with signs.  

Sam Sommers, assistant professor-in-residence in the English department, also brought up UConn’s response to AAUP and GEU assembling on Sept. 10 and Oct. 20 as a reason for the protest.  

“Why is it more important to enforce policy that’s not written down [compared to] respecting faculty as we exercise our rights?” Sommers asked in response to the UConn administration claiming the Oct. 20 gathering broke Student Union policies by gathering in the hallway outside the ballroom without reserving the room. The ballroom was where contract negotiations were happening that day.  

The Outdoor Amplified and Projected Sound Policy has been effective since Aug. 21, 2024, and excludes UConn Athletics and some other University events, according to UConn’s website. In a statement emailed to The Daily Campus, university spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said the protocols are applied consistently and fairly to all groups.  

“[M]ore than 70 participants used the hallway/atrium area during the meeting in direct violation of the room reservation protocols,” Reitz’s statement said. “UConn strongly disagrees with the group’s characterizations. The policies are applied in a uniform and content-neutral manner.” 

The exclusion for university events in the amplified noise policy was criticized by a protestor who wanted to be referred to as a faculty member afraid of oppression.  

“That’s what we’ve been experiencing,” the faculty member said, referring to the fears of oppression. “GEU was denied an acoustic guitar. Whenever the university wants to do something, they’re awarded to do whatever.”  

Fliers handed out during the protest pointed out how a request from UConn AAUP for amplified sound during an April 17 rally was denied.  

“UConn is so scared of free speech they forced a U.S. senator to shout at a crowd of over 250 people,” the flier said, referring to the presence of Sen. Richard Blumenthal, whose voice couldn’t be amplified.   

Sommers said that as the calendar year ends, UConn is “still unresolved at the bargaining and negotiation table at many key issues.” While the lack of resolution this late in the year motivated protestors to grab attention in unique ways like costumes, the inflatables were also inopportune at times.   

“It’s certainly windier than expected, which is a little bit challenging with blow up costumes,” Sommer said about the December protest.  

That didn’t stop the group from beginning chants like “admin tried to shut us down” and “freedom frolic, what’s the fuss” through the roaring wind tunnels.  

A UConn faculty protestor who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the decision to wear costumes was influenced by the “No Kings” protests and represented the symbolic power of art. The professor said his costume was worn to make a mockery of the UConn administration. 

The idea became popular after a Portland, Ore., protestor routinely showed up in an inflatable frog costume and gained notoriety after being pepper sprayed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, leading to the inflatable theme in the “No Kings” protests from Oct. 18, according to AP news. 

Protestors on Monday wore a variety of costumes, including the classic blow-up frog and others like an alien, unicorn and skeleton frog costume. An inflatable acoustic guitar prop held by undergraduate student Nate Wylie distinguished the inflatable props used for Monday’s protest.  

“It’s the most docile instrument ever,” Wylie said about GEU being denied an acoustic guitar because of amplified sound.  

Sommers said that Monday’s protest was about doing something different, which will be used to gauge what methods protestors could take in the future.  

This article was updated on Dec. 2 to correct the dates of the AAUP and GEU protests, add context to Sommers’ statement and correct Lambe’s title.