Judge to hear arguments on canceling University of Maryland Palestinian vigil

COLLEGE PARK — A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments Monday regarding a request from a University of Maryland student organization to block the university from canceling an Oct. 7 campus vigil that would commemorate lives lost in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the United States. last year.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations and Palestine Legal filed a federal lawsuit September 17 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on behalf of the student group, the University of Maryland chapter Students for Justice in Palestine, challenging the university’s cancellation of the vigil.

The suit accuses the University of Maryland, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents and Dr. Darryll Pines, president of the University of Maryland at College Park, of “engaging in unconstitutional content-based discrimination.”

The hearing on the injunction will be held before U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte in Greenbelt.

Pines and the University System of Maryland issued letters Sept. 1 canceling all student-organized “speech events” scheduled for Oct. 7, which they said would be replaced by university-sponsored activities “dedicated in Discourse and Reflection” at the University of Maryland. and all other universities in the Maryland system.

“The First Amendment does not permit campus officials to establish blackout days for free speech, even on occasions that may be emotional or politically polarizing,” said Gadeir Abbas, deputy national litigation director of the CAIR.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Maryland, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed an amicus brief Wednesday in support of students for the Justice in Palestine from the University of Maryland. Free speech organizations say the October 7 restriction is an unconstitutional and unreasonable attempt to “silence speech about Israel and Palestine.”

Leaders of the student group told Capital News Service that their Oct. 7 event plans to include classes, student speakers, interfaith prayers and a vigil.

“By canceling our event, the University of Maryland has continued to deliberately erase the Palestinian perspective from campus,” said Daniela Colombi, board member of University of Maryland Students for Justice in Palestine. “We are horrified beyond words at the obstruction of the advancement of equality, justice and liberation. »

The University of Maryland’s Students for Palestine Justice requested and received approval July 31 to hold an “outreach event” Oct. 7 at McKeldin Mall, a central location on the College Park campus. Two days later, after the reservation was publicly entered into the university’s student registration system, the university administration requested a meeting with the group of students, the lawsuit states.

In an Aug. 19 meeting with Pines and Dr. Patricia Perillo, vice president of student affairs, student group board members explained the purpose of the event. Pines and Perillo asserted that “they have been pressured by groups inside and outside the university to rescind the UMD-SJP reservation, but they are committed to protecting freedom of student expression,” according to the lawsuit.

“You are likely to see and hear expressive activities on campus on issues with which you may or may not agree…as a public institution, we cannot discriminate on the basis of content or point of view, and therefore must allow these groups to be heard,” Pines said in an Aug. 26 letter to the campus community.

The university continued to face backlash from some pro-Israel groups in the following days.

A petition started by End Jewish Hate calling on the University of Maryland to rescind its authorization has garnered nearly 30,000 signatures, according to the lawsuit. On Aug. 28, Perillo told the group of students that parties outside the university were concerned the event would “glorify violence,” according to the lawsuit.

On September 1, university administrators revoked the University of Maryland’s October 7 Student for Justice in Palestine reservation, citing student safety concerns.

The lawsuit claims the campus-wide bans were based on a viewpoint issue, challenging the legal basis Pines provided in his September 1 letter.

The lawsuit uses Pines’ own words from the Sept. 1 letter to argue that the university system violates the First Amendment. Despite the focus on security concerns, Pines said he “requested a routine, focused security assessment for that day” and the University of Maryland Police Department assured him that “it “there was no immediate or active threat to provoke this assessment.”

The University of Maryland Police Department and the University of Maryland President’s Office declined to comment on the lawsuit. Mike Lurie, media relations and website manager for the University System of Maryland, told CNS that “the University System of Maryland does not comment on pending litigation.”

Gene Policinski, senior First Amendment fellow at the Freedom Forum, told CNS that for the Maryland university system’s ban to be constitutional, the defendants will have to prove their decision was based on significant safety concerns, rather than the opinion of the student group. points of view and that another method of expression would be proposed.

Rabbi Ari Israel, executive director of Maryland Hillel, told CNS: “We believe the university has placed an emphasis on student safety and appreciate the university’s decision regarding student gatherings on October 7 . » He also expressed gratitude to Pines and the administration’s “supportive leadership as Jewish life and Maryland Hillel continue to thrive on campus.”

The University of Maryland Jewish Student Union and Terps for Israel told CNS that while they “respect the right of all parties to pursue legal action,” they believe that “the decision of the “The university’s decision to cancel all events for both groups was the best decision under the circumstances.”

Members of the University of Maryland’s Students for Palestine Justice board told CNS they feared the ban, if left unchallenged, would set a precedent, inhibiting pro-Palestine speech. Palestinian students across the country.

“As UMD-SJP, we have a responsibility to our peers at this university and to students across the country to defend our collective and constitutional rights to free speech,” Colombi said.

Reactions to the ban from student groups and officials have been mixed.

“We are relieved that SJP is no longer able to appropriate the suffering of our family and friends to fit their false and dangerous narrative,” said Jewish Student Union, American Israel Council, Maryland Hillel and Terps for Israel in a joint statement on the subject. Instagram. “While we are reassured by this decision, we are distressed that it had to be made. We wish we could have used campus space to grieve together as a community.

Policinski said judges often defer to school administrators “because they balance the First Amendment rights of others in the education process.”

“These (cases) often depend very, very much on the facts of the specific circumstances on campuses, but any time free speech is restricted, I think it deserves very careful consideration, which the lawsuit mentions, very careful consideration. strict,” he said.

Mennatalla Ibrahim reports for Capital News Service.