Brown University has temporarily suspended a pro-Palestinian student group after administrators launched an external investigation into conduct violations at a protest earlier this month. The university accused members of Students for Justice in Palestine of “screaming profanities” and “banging on a vehicle.” File Photo by CJ Gunther/EPA-EFE
Oct. 29 (UPI) — Brown University has temporarily suspended a pro-Palestinian student group while administrators look into alleged conduct violations at a protest earlier this month.
“Given the severity of alleged threatening, intimidating and harassing actions during an event on campus, Brown University has initiated a review of the event and required the Brown chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to cease all organization activities pending full review of the matter,” the Ivy League university’s spokesperson, Brian Clark, told The Brown Daily Herald.
“While Brown’s policies make clear that protest is a necessary and acceptable means of expression on campus, protest cannot interfere with the normal functions of the University,” administrators added. “We are committed to upholding freedom of expression while also respecting the dignity and humanity of others.”
Last week, the Brown administration informed Students for Justice in Palestine that its chapter was suspended and would not be allowed to hold events and meetings, or post on social media.
The university said it had hired an outside investigator to gather evidence on protesters involved in an Oct. 18 demonstration against Brown’s decision to reject divestment from 10 companies with ties to the Israeli military.
Russell Carey, executive vice president for Planning and Policy at Brown University, called the protesters’ behavior “entirely unacceptable.”
The demonstrators were “screaming profanities at individuals,” “banging on a vehicle” and used a “racial epithet directed toward a person of color,” Carey said, adding the actions violated Brown’s student conduct policies.
Members of Brown Divest Coalition, which oversees Students for Justice in Palestine, called SJP’s suspension “politically motivated.”
“With this decision, the university has cemented their utter disregard for and commitment to the dehumanization of the Palestinian people,” the group claimed.
“This suspension and other allegations made against SJP by the administration are a retaliatory, politically motivated ploy to defame protesters, fracture the student movement and detract from their complicity in the extermination of the Palestinian people,” Brown Divest Coalition argued.
Other colleges and universities, including Tufts University, Rutgers University, American University and University of Vermont, have suspended their pro-Palestinian group chapters amid ongoing protests.
Earlier this month, Harvard suspended 25 professors and more than 60 law students from the university’s flagship Widener Library after a silent “study-in” protest inside the library’s main reading room.