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The Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at American University has been put on probation after a disciplinary hearing, the group announced in an Instagram post on Monday.
The hearing was held to address a Feb. 8 demonstration at the Washington, DC institution in which student activists silently walked through campus buildings holding signs against violence in Gaza and calling for divestment from Israel, The Eagle, the university’s student newspaper, first reported.
Matthew Bennett, American University’s vice president and chief communications officer, confirmed in an email to Inside Higher Ed that the chapter was on probation for violating recent directives shared by university officials on Jan. 25 prohibiting indoor protests, among other measures, and as “part of our overall commitment to campus safety and supporting a sense of belonging for our students.”
“The sanction was applied through our standard conduct process and involved an indoor protest that took place in February,” he said.
Jewish Insider reported that the indoor protest prohibition and other rules were developed with input from the university’s Jewish studies director, other members of the campus Jewish community and the Anti-Defamation League. The directives were announced after multiple Jewish advocacy groups filed a complaint against the university in January, calling it a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students.
American University’s Students for Justice in Palestine group called the indoor protest ban “repressive.”
“The university does not define anywhere what constitutes a protest and this vagueness has and will be used to police anything university administrators deem ‘unwelcome’ or ‘uncivil’ in an attempt to silence us,” the group wrote on Instagram.
Multiple universities have suspended Students for Justice in Palestine chapters since protests over the Israel-Gaza war broke out, including Columbia University, George Washington University and campuses in the State University System of Florida.
