Ohio State suspends socialist pro-Palestinian group for posing a 'significant risk of substantial harm'
The Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists was suspended for violating university policies, including posting the logo of a terrorist organization on Instagram.
The group has also repeatedly condemned Israel and has organized pro-Palestinian protests.
Ohio State University has suspended a pro-Palestinian student organization known as the Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists (CORS) for a number of university policy violations.
University spokesperson Dave Isaacs said that CORS, which was suspended on Dec. 13, was guilty of “disregarding university directives, being non-responsive to meeting requests from the organization’s advisors and university leaders, and dissemination of materials that include a logo associated with a designated terrorist organization,” as reported in The Lantern.
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Isaacs explained that CORS used the logo of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization, as written in The Lantern. The PFLP logo can be seen in one of CORS’s Instagram posts.
CORS released a statement opposing its suspension. The statement claims that the Dean of Students gave the reason for the group’s suspension as “’there is reasonable cause to believe your organization’s activities pose a significant risk of substantial harm to the safety or security of your organization’s members, other members of the university community or to university property.’”
CORS alleged that “the claims leveled against us thus far are bureaucratic in nature,” and claimed that the university’s actions “are intended to create a chilling effect on freedom of speech for pro-Palestine voices in particular.”
CORS also circulated a petition that calls on Ohio State to “[i]mmediately reinstate” the group, “defend the right to free speech about Palestine in this period where McCarthyist-style attacks are taking place with unprecedented frequency,” and “[s]tand against and refuse to aid attacks on individuals or organizations advocating for Palestine.”
The organization has also made a full list of signatories available for public view, which includes students and faculty, as well as groups such as “Firebrand Communists,” “Cincinnati Socialists,” and “Athenians for Bodily Autonomy.”
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The organization’s social media accounts, such as Instagram, Facebook, and X are filled with pictures and advertisements for protests, condemnation of Israel, and quotes from communist leaders.
Campus Reform has reached out to Ohio State and CORS. The article will be updated accordingly.
