PITTSBURGH - The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal free speech lawsuit today against the University of Pittsburgh on behalf of Students for Justice in Palestine at Pitt (SJP-Pitt), a student organization recently placed on an indefinite, interim suspension by the school in apparent retaliation for the club’s political speech.
The university placed SJP-Pitt on indefinite, interim suspension in March after the club organized a letter with more than 70 other university-affiliated clubs and community organizations that protested Pitt’s ongoing harassment of the group. For the past year, university officials have limited the club’s ability to organize on-campus activities, restricting the students’ ability to express their message in support of Palestinians to the Pitt community.
“The First Amendment requires that public universities respect students’ right to engage in vigorous debate about important issues of the day. Pitt’s suspension of the club’s status and other interference with peaceful advocacy is unconstitutional retaliation,” said Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “The fact that the Middle East conflict elicits strong views is all the more reason that universities must maintain an environment that promotes the marketplace of ideas. Pitt cannot constitutionally put its thumb on one side of the debate by harassing and chilling the pro-Palestinian students’ side of that important discussion.”
SJP-Pitt has been a registered student organization at Pitt since 2009 and became more active after October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters led an attack in southern Israel and the Israeli government subsequently began its military assault against Palestinians in Gaza. Since then, the club has organized, co-sponsored, promoted, and advertised numerous demonstrations and educational events on and off campus and has maintained an active social media presence to raise awareness of the suffering of the Palestinian people.
SJP-Pitt has repeatedly promoted nonviolence, including condemning an assault of two Jewish students by a 52-year-old man near Pitt’s campus last year.
The club’s activity has drawn the ire of two other student organizations, Students Supporting Israel and Student Coalition for Israel at Pitt. Those clubs have directed violent rhetoric toward SJP-Pitt.
Pitt officials have responded to this situation by forcing SJP-Pitt to hold events off campus, initiating disciplinary measures against the club over a silent event in the university library, and suspending the club for its letter criticizing Pitt’s leadership.
“Advocating for an end to the slaughter of the Palestinian people requires that we be able to speak openly and without fear of retaliation, particularly when that advocacy demands critical examination of the complicity of our own institutions,” said Students for Justice in Palestine at Pitt in a statement. “Rather than uphold this right equally for all student groups, the University of Pittsburgh has crudely weaponized a vague, drawn-out, and internally inconsistent disciplinary process as a cover to suppress our speech, in flagrant violation of our constitutional protections.
“Since January, Pitt has, among other things, canceled and defunded our events, threatened us with sanctions for engaging in off-campus speech, and suspended us for circulating an open letter demanding greater transparency in university conduct proceedings.”
The lawsuit states that the club’s activity is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and that the university has violated those protections by suspending SJP-Pitt, initiating meritless disciplinary charges, and disrupting peaceful on-campus demonstrations. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the ACLU is asking the court to order Pitt to lift the club’s suspension and cease disciplinary actions. SJP-Pitt is represented by Walczak, Solomon Furious Worlds, and Kirsten Hanlon of the ACLU of Pa. and attorney Jules Lobel. A copy of today’s filing is available at this link: https://www.aclupa.org/en/sjp-pitt
