UGA anti-Israel students claim attack on free speech as university upholds disciplinary actions against student protesters
Six University of Georgia students received further disciplinary measures following their involvement in an on-campus unsanctioned protest.
The University of Georgia Students for Justice in Palestine criticized the university by outlining that the university called in officers during the spring protest who discussed using pepper spray to disperse protesters.
The University of Georgia Students for Justice in Palestine posted a series of posts on social media that called out the university for hosting conduct hearings and handing down suspensions to six students involved in anti-Israel protests on the university’s campus.
Uploaded to Instagram, the UNC SJP posted a 10-slide post which criticized the university for punishing six students with relating to an unauthorized demonstration organized by the SJP in the spring.
In the post, the group claims that on July 30, the university organized a 13-hour hearing which included the students in question and a disciplinary panel, which ruled that students who had previously received interim suspensions from the university were to have their sentences extended into the entirety of the Fall 2024 semester.
The students were placed on indefinite probation until the university notified them differently.
The students who had committee hearings allegedly submitted nine pages of evidence to defend their actions in the unauthorized demonstration and called witnesses, according to the UGA SJP.
Defending their members who were in front of the committee, the SJP posted bodycam footage of officers on the scene at the unsanctioned protest. In one of the videos uploaded by the SJP, officers are seen discussing how they were going to disperse the protesters and the SJP highlighted that one of the officers stated: “We will end up probably just go initially with pepperball.”
Pepperball is a pepper spray projectile commonly used as a means by officers to subdue suspects who do not comply with official orders.
In the caption of the post, SJP stated that though the university did not give a green light on the protest, the panel reaffirmed that “[t]he panel’s assertion that the April 29th demonstrators’ speech was ‘not constitutionally protected speech or expression’ should immensely concern the student body.”
The group further stated that they will “continue to stand with the UGA-Siz and demand that UGA discloses and divests from all zionist organizations responsible for the eaths of more than 40,000 students, children, mothers, fathers, grandparents- human beings.”
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Georgia for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
