Statement in Solidarity with Students for Justice in Palestine as They Seek Injunction Against UMD

We, members of the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP), an independent coalition of faculty and staff at the University of Maryland, College Park, who support human rights and free speech, stand in solidarity with University of Maryland Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as they seek an injunction against the university to prevent a flagrant violation of their right to freedom of expression on this campus.

On Sunday September 1, in a blast email to the campus community, President Pines announced that on October 7th, 2024, “expressive activities” on campus would not be permitted, effectively suspending the university’s own Statement on Free Speech Values for the entire day.  

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a recognized university student group, went through the official requesting procedures to hold an interfaith vigil, jointly with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), to mourn the deaths of thousands of men, women and children who have perished, are under rubble, been permanently disabled, left homeless, are hungry, or are in prisons or held hostage since the events of October 7, 2023.

The purpose of the vigil was clear: to mourn the suffering that has occurred and continues to be visited upon people in Gaza and that is impacting members of our own campus community. The students were granted permission to hold what was always intended as an inclusive interfaith vigil open to anyone who wanted to mourn the tragedies of the last year in Gaza. SJP’s request to reserve McKeldin Mall was within their rights and violated no university policies.

President Pines’ email announced that permission was being revoked without cause. The administration’s decision came after an orchestrated anti-Palestinian political campaign of pressure on the university. The email announcing that only “university-sponsored events that promote reflection” would be allowed on October 7 was presented as if this is a politically neutral ruling. Far from neutral, this is a political position that aligns the administration against Palestinians and works to silence their voices and obscure their suffering.

Even as President Pines’ email acknowledges that there are no immediate safety risks that would justify emergency prohibitions on speech, it nonetheless declares that the administration has carte blanche to restrict speech based on time, place, or manner considerations that have not yet been enumerated in any university policy.

We oppose and condemn the blatant denial of basic freedoms of SJP students and those who planned to participate in the vigil with them. Neither President Pines nor those who influenced him and his administration to revoke the SJP vigil permit have the right to deny law-abiding citizens the ability to express their views, simply because they disagree with their message or beliefs.

And university officials cannot and must not act on such issues simply because one side is able to quickly mount a pressure campaign from outside the university and thus gain influence in administrative decisions. We can only conclude from the cancellation of this SJP vigil that President Pines and the University Administration does not consider the SJP event to be valid because of SJP clear support of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

We call upon President Pines and Administration to publicly reinstate the permit that was originally granted SJP and its supporters. An open announcement that the vigil can still be held will go a long way in undoing the damage that their actions have caused in taking one side against another. The university community needs to be reassured that the concept of free speech and free public protest is alive and well at this university, as it should be in all institutions of higher learning that profess free and independent thinking.