An April 25 rally on the campus of Northwestern University. Plans for pro-Palestinian vigils at the University of Maryland on Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, have been blocked by campus officials. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
Civil rights groups are calling on the University of Maryland, College Park, to reverse its prohibition on student-led demonstrations on Oct 7, the anniversary of the Hamas terror attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations and Palestine Legal said in a Sept. 4 letter to campus officials that they need to reverse the decision to “avoid a legal clash with the First Amendment it will lose.” They said Wednesday that their letter has been ignored, and called on students and concerned individuals to complain to the campus.
“The First Amendment does not allow the government to make October 7th or any other day a free-expression-black-out date. The clarity of the constitutional violation, if maintained, courts conflict,” said CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas in a statement.
The issue is not limited to the College Park campus. The University System of Maryland, the governing body of the state’s universities, said on Sept. 1 that it will restrict Oct. 7 demonstrations for all institutions in the system.
The dispute began when two College Park student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voices for Peace, got university permission to hold a vigil on Oct. 7 at McKeldin Mall to recognize lives lost since that day, highlighting Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
But other Jewish student organizations and news outlets called on the university to cancel the vigil, arguing the event would “appropriate the suffering” the Jewish community has faced since the Hamas terror attack. The event was canceled a few days later and University of Maryland President Darryll Pines said that all campus activities on that day would be restricted to university-sponsored events.
Abel Amene, a senior studying economics and physics at College Park, and a member of the Students for Justice in Palestine, called the restrictions on campus activities “an attempt to legally skirt the First Amendment protection” and that the student group is “seriously” considering legal action.
Meanwhile, CAIR is urging College Park students and others to contact university administration to “demand that they respect the rights of students to freely express their views and advocate for the causes they believe in, including the defense of Palestinian human rights.”
The Hillel chapter at the University of Maryland did not respond to request for comment, but said in a previous joint statement with the Jewish Student Union that it supports Pines’ decision.
“While this is not an ideal situation, it ensures that our physical and psychological safety is protected on this day of grief,” the statement said.
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After Pines’ announcement, the university system released a statement on Sept. 1 saying that “on Oct. 7 — and only on Oct. 7 — the USM will limit special campus events (those requiring approval or permitting) to ones that support a university-sponsored Day of Dialogue. University-approved events sponsored by organizations will resume on Oct. 8.”
While USM claims the decision is out of respect for students and with their safety in mind, some faculty and students worry it will limit free speech on campuses and could lead to further restrictions down the line.
Marcus Johnson, assistant professor of government and politics on the College Park campus, called the decision a “real concern.” He is affiliated with Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine at the University of Maryland, but said he was only speaking for himself.
“I find it a little bit disappointing … university campuses should be these spaces where students should learn to have the hard conversations,” Johnson said. “And yet the universities’ response to that is to kind of preempt that learning experience even from happening.”
The University System’s statement says that the “intent is not to abridge students’ right to free expression; the intent is, instead, to be sensitive to the needs of our students.”
Day of Dialogue
The Sept. 1 USM statement does not have a clear outline defining a Day of Dialogue or what kinds of campus-sponsored activities will be permitted.
“Our university communities may use this day to safely come together to reflect and to share, to learn and to listen, and, yes, to challenge one another. That’s the premise — and the promise — of higher education,” the statement said.
Paul Stackpole, a senior writer with USM, said the decision to restrict campus activities came as an agreement between system Chancellor Jay Perman and the campus presidents.
“It was neither instruction nor guidance. It was agreed upon,” Stackpole said. He added that “programming decisions for the Day of Dialogue are left to each of the universities to determine.”
Communication staffers from Frostburg State University and Bowie State University said over email that discussions on Oct. 7 campus activities are in progress, but no firm details have been announced yet.
“All our student organizations will be notified … and encouraged to participate in the planning and delivery of these campus activities,” said Frostburg State University’s Nicole McDonald last week.
Johnson believes the “Day of Dialogue” language is vague.
“I don’t fully know what that means except that it’s clear the universities want to be able to, in some ways, control and moderate speech,” he said.
“It feels more like this kind of squishy language that’s useful for the university to figure out exactly what they’re going to allow,” Johnson added. “And in the meantime, stop the students from being able to organize what they would do autonomously.”
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