University of Maryland Can’t Ban Anti-Israel Group From Hosting Campus Protest on October 7, Judge Rules

A federal judge will not allow the University of Maryland to prevent an anti-Israel student group, Students for Justice in Palestine, from hosting an event on campus on the anniversary of the October 7 massacre.

The ruling, made on Tuesday by Maryland district judge, Peter Messitte, granted the students an injunction request on the grounds that the university, which initially allowed the event before it reversed course, is violating their First Amendment rights.

“SJP appears to want to hold another peaceable, if highly controversial, event,” Judge Messitte wrote. “But this is a matter of law, not of wounded feelings. Free speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment may be the most important law this country has. In many ways, all other basic freedoms — freedom of religion, of the press, of the right to assemble, and to petition the government — depend upon it.”

The university, which argued that the event posed security challenges, responded to the ruling by stating that it “recognizes, and will abide by, the court’s decision” but notes that “the safety concerns that were raised remain a source of ongoing attention and focus for us.”

Judge Messitte’s order — which will only apply to the College Park campus, not other universities within the Maryland system — comes as schools across the country are gearing up for a wave of protests and clashes on the anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel. Just last week, the national organization behind Students for Justice in Palestine called for its student members to stage a “Week of Rage” on their college campuses October 7 and October 11.

“We will rise to end our universities’ complicity in this genocide, to fight for the end of the colonization of Palestine, and to fight for the complete liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea,” the group wrote in a post on Instagram.

‘A Direct Threat to the Safety of the Jewish Community’

The conflict at College Park began when Students for Justice in Palestine — an anti-Israel student group that is currently facing a lawsuit for acting as the propaganda arm of Hamas in America and has been de-recognized on numerous university campuses — requested to reserve McKeldin Mall, the College Park campus’s main green, to host a vigil on October 7.

After the university granted the group a permit to host the event, Maryland’s Jewish community — including campus Hillel and the Jewish Student Union — quickly condemned the decision. An open letter quickly began to circulate the school calling for university leaders to take “both proactive and reactive steps to protect the Jewish community on campus.”

“Any effort to celebrate the death of 1,200 members of our community on October 7, 2023, even within the context of celebrating ‘freedom fighters,’ ‘martyrs,’ etc., will be taken by the UMD Jewish community as a direct threat to the safety of the Jewish community at UMD,” the letter claimed.

A Day of Grief

News of the event at Maryland spurred grassroots movement End Jew Hatred to pen a similar petition directed at all universities across America and Canada, arguing that “it is singularly inappropriate to allow activities on campus on October 7th that do not reflect the reverential and respectful commemoration of this tragedy.”

The group referenced the event at UMD, calling out organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine that have “at worst, celebrated the October 7th attacks, and at best, created a hostile and toxic campus environment replete with the systematic targeting of Jewish students.”

It wasn’t long before the university’s President, Darryll Pines, addressed the controversy, announcing that “out of an abundance of caution” only university-sponsored events would be allowed to take place on October 7.

Some members of the Jewish community expressed relief. Others voiced disappointment that the blanket decision effectively drew a comparison between student Jewish organizations and SJP. In a joint statement, Maryland Hillel and the Jewish Student Union wrote that the outcome was “not an ideal situation” but that “it ensures that our physical and psychological safety is protected on this day of grief.”

Maryland’s SJP, however, was quick to condemn the announcement, declaring in a post on Instagram that, “UMD SJP will NOT back down to threats by Zionists. We will remain committed to advocating for Palestine and we will still find ways to honor the martyrs of this genocide and mark one year of resistance.”

Soon after, the student group, with the backing of Palestine Legal and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, launched a suit against the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents, the University of Maryland, College Park, and the president, Mr. Pines.

“The First Amendment does not allow campus officials to establish free expression-black-out days, even on occasions that may be emotional or politically polarizing,” the lawsuit argues.

‘Vile’ Ideas Deserve Protection

While Judge Messitte noted that “SJP has picked a particularly controversial date to hold an event to commemorate Gaza War dead, to decry what it terms Israeli ‘genocide,’ and to promote multiple aspects of Palestinian life and culture,” he concluded that “like them or not, these very terms appear in the media virtually daily. They are expressive of ideas, however vile they may seem to some. There is no reason why they should not be given protection as speech when they are used in the forum of a public university.”

With the latest order, SJP will be allowed to hold the vigil. However, the judge said that conduct such as “incitement to violence, physical threats and harassment to individuals, disruption of classes, occupation of buildings, encampments, and property destruction” is not protected under the First Amendment. SJP will have to post a bond of $2,500 for potential damages, according to Tuesday’s ruling.

In response to the ruling, a Jewish student at the University of Maryland, Isaac Shiner, who also serves as treasurer for his school’s Jewish Student Union, told the Sun, “I respect the judicial system and trust the rule of law.”

However, he continued: “It is nevertheless reprehensible that SJP is hosting an event on October 7. This is the day that Hamas terrorists stormed Israel and killed about 1,200 people. It is shameful that SJP would distort this day to fit their false and dangerous narrative.”

Mr. Shiner says that he plans to commemorate October 7th by attending an event hosted by the Jewish Student Union.

A fellow for the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a non profit which advocates for academic freedom at American universities, Steve McGuire, offers a similar message.

“SJP’s decision to hold this event shows a complete disregard for basic human decency, but UMD is a public university and therefore subject to the First Amendment, which protects a broad range of speech, including speech that many will hate,” Mr. McGuire tells the Sun.

“I hope,” he adds, “UMD community members will respond by reaching out to their Jewish and Israeli peers and colleagues to ask how they can stand in solidarity with them on what will be an extremely difficult day.”

---

This article was published by the New York Sun on October 2, 2024.