Private university bans Students for Justice in Palestine as Middle East fallout spreads

[Eugene]

Source: The Hill

Private university bans Students for Justice in Palestine as Middle East fallout spreads

BY OLAFIMIHAN OSHIN - 11/06/23 10:20 PM ET

A Massachusetts-based private university has banned a student chapter of the National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on its campus amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, becoming the first U.S.-based private university to do so.

A Brandeis University spokesperson confirmed to The Hill on Monday that the school had banned the student chapter of the national organization, saying the leading factor in their decision was the SJP’s support of militant group Hamas.

Brandeis was founded as a nonsectarian Jewish university in 1948.

“SJP has called on its chapters to engage in conduct that supports Hamas in its call for the elimination of the only Jewish state in the world and its people,” the school’s spokesperson said in its statement to The Hill. “Such expression is not protected by Brandeis’ principles of free speech.”

“Students are welcome to express their support for Palestinians in a manner that complies with our rights and responsibilities,” the spokesperson concluded.

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Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/4296741-first-private-university-bans-students-for-justice-in-palestine-as-middle-east-fallout-spreads/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. ACLU: Why We Must Reject Efforts to Restrict Constitutionally Protected Speech on College Campuses

Yes, I acknowledge that Brandeis is a private university.

NEWS & COMMENTARY

Why We Must Reject Efforts to Restrict Constitutionally Protected Speech on College Campuses

Calls to punish and silence student activists betray the Constitution and the spirit of free inquiry that is critical to life at public universities.

David Cole,
ACLU Legal Director
November 2, 2023

The devastating conflict in Israel and Palestine has roiled campuses here at home. College students across the country are exercising their constitutional right to free speech by organizing, protesting, posting, and debating, sometimes resulting in speech that is intemperate, hateful, and abhorrent. We’re also seeing a rise in antisemitic and anti-Arab and Muslim discrimination, with documented threats against Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, and Middle Eastern and South Asian origin students and faculty alike. These colliding dynamics have left colleges and universities contending with how to manage increased threats, genuine fears, and anguished tensions on their campuses while trying to keep students and faculty safe. We take the weight and complexity of these challenges seriously, and understand that balancing public safety and public debate can feel insurmountable.

But it is precisely in times of heightened crisis and fear that university leaders must remain steadfast in their commitment to free speech, open debate, and peaceful dissent on campus. These principles are the bedrock of academic freedom at all universities. Moreover, the First Amendment requires public universities to protect the right of students and student groups to debate and demonstrate on campus.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen a surge in efforts to punish and silence students for their speech. The Anti-Defamation League and The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law issued an open letter last week calling on university leaders to investigate pro-Palestinian student groups, alleging their speech constitutes “material support for terrorism,” punishable under federal and state law, despite no evidence to support such claims. That is why the ACLU sent its own open letter to the administrative leaders of each state’s public college system, reaching over 650 colleges and universities, expressing our strong opposition to any efforts to stifle free speech and association on college campuses. The letter unequivocally urges universities to reject calls to investigate, disband, or penalize pro-Palestinian student groups for exercising their free speech rights.

{snip}

[NCIndie]

2. Limits to free speech always exist.

One can openly support terrorist groups, but there's no guarantee you can do that wherever you please.

Universities have been grappling with this for a long time. Should the KKK be granted full access to university facilities? Striking the perfect balance is impossible; somebody will be left pissed off.

[The Mouth]

3. One can support terrorists

But there will be repercussions. I will never do business with, hire, work for, or speak civilly of anyone who says of Hamas that they are anything other than terrorist scum who deserve elimination, just as I would do with any Nazi or KKK supporters.