University of Pittsburgh suspends SJP chapter after disruptive protest
The SJP at the University of Pittsburgh is one of several other chapters that have been banned at other universities.
The move comes after several anti-Semitic attacks that took place on campus in 2024.
The University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania recently suspended its chapter of the controversial anti-Israel student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
The school informed the SJP that it is placing an “interim suspension of registration” on the group on March 18.
The move comes after the SJP was accused of organizing a December “study-in” protest at the Hillman Library on campus, bringing Palestinian signs and anti-Israel messages and repeatedly ignoring requests from school officials telling them to leave.
The school specifically mentioned that “individuals acting on behalf of SJP … improperly engaged in communications to members of the Conduct Hearing Board,” referring to the board overseeing disciplinary proceedings over the SJP’s “study-in” protest.
The University of Pittsburgh SJP group is not the first of its kind to receive a suspension for disruptive anti-Israel activism. The SJP chapters at the Universities of Michigan, Tufts, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Rutgers have also recently been suspended.
In the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, there have been several reports of anti-Semitic incidents on the University of Pittsburgh campus. In the Fall 2024 semester, two Jewish students wearing yarmulkes were violently attacked on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus.
In the spring semester, faculty from the University of Pittsburgh participated in training for addressing anti-Semitism due to a “series of incidents on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus, resulting in multiple individuals being charged.”
Recently, Columbia University’s SJP was named as one of the defendants in a lawsuit launched by victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre. The group was accused of having “prior knowledge of the October 7 attack.”
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Pittsburgh for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
