The legal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland said the school violated students’ First Amendment rights when it prevented the local SJP chapter from holding its own events on Oct. 7.
The plaintiffs, also featuring the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Palestine Legal, are saying the defendants “are engaging in unconstitutional content-based discrimination.”
Additionally, the Students for Justice in Palestine’s complaint says, “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.”
A school spokesperson declined to comment on the matter and pointed the Washington Examiner to their Sept. 1 statement, which indicated the school will limit events on Oct. 7.
“I have also consulted with the University System of Maryland about the importance of our university and all of our USM schools prioritizing safety and reflection on this one-year anniversary,” UMD President Darryll J. Pines said in the letter. “Jointly, out of an abundance of caution, we concluded to host only university-sponsored events that promote reflection on this day. All other expressive events will be held prior to October 7, and then resume on October 8 in accordance with time, place and manner considerations of the First Amendment.”
“Our Terrapin community’s culture of safety and respect has been exemplary, as we continue to pursue an inclusive, multicultural campus,” he said.
According to the student newspaper the Diamondback, Daniela Colombi, an SJP board member, said at a Tuesday press conference that the vigil aimed to honor people killed in Gaza in the past year and raise awareness about living conditions there. Colombi said the date, which marked thousands of Israeli casualties at the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, represents “one year into the escalated genocide of Palestinians.”
“We sought to use this reservation to awaken in our community the understanding that these people are not merely numbers, and they never were,” Colombi said. “They had dreams, loves, and futures.”
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 40,972 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7. They do not differentiate between Hamas combatants and civilians.
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Reporting from the Washington Examiner on SJP indicated that the organization has been accused of a “nationwide campaign of violently harassing, intimidating and silencing” Jewish students.
The Washington Examiner contacted the national SJP and CAIR but did not receive a response.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
