Brandeis University, a prominent Jewish-founded institution in the United States, has made the decision to ban its campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) due to the national group’s public support for the terrorist organization Hamas. Brandeis informed the student group that it was revoking their recognition status, meaning that they would no longer receive university funding, conduct activities on campus, or use the university’s name in promoting itself. This decision stemmed from the national SJP’s public statements in support of Hamas and the organization’s calling for armed attacks on Israeli civilians, combined with increasing radical and violent rhetoric that prompted many campus chapters to issue pro-Hamas messaging and anti-Semitic sentiments.
The university defended its decision, stating that the national SJP’s call for violent actions against Israel and the Jewish people are not compatible with the functioning of the university, leading to a violation of accepted speech principles and student conduct regulations. Furthermore, Brandeis issued a warning that students who choose to engage in activities in support of Hamas will be in violation of the university’s student code of conduct. The Brandeis SJP group responded to the ban by condemning it as “racist,” arguing that it goes against the university’s stated values of fighting racism in higher education.
The ban at Brandeis has sparked a free speech debate, as the non-profit First Amendment advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) criticized the university’s decision, arguing that the actions of the national SJP should not result in punishment for the Brandeis campus chapter. Brandeis is facing backlash for taking away the SJP’s recognized status as it pledged to uphold the spirit of the First Amendment, even as a private institution not directly bound by the amendment.
This debate at Brandeis is taking place amid similar actions in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis is trying to implement a university system-wide ban on SJP chapters. DeSantis has defended this stance by claiming that the group’s association with and support of Hamas constitutes a link to terrorism that should not be supported with taxpayer dollars. He described the deactivation of the group as an action against providing material support for terrorism, rather than participation in so-called “cancel culture.”