Rutgers Students Struggle to Beat Back Suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine but the Struggle Must Continue!

January 23, 2024February 2, 2024 bwitanek 13119 Views

On December 12th, Rutgers University New Brunswick unjustly suspended our Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at its New Brunswick campus, citing wholly and verifiably unsubstantiated claims in order to justify its racist censorship of activism in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Students for Justice in Palestine responded by reaching out to all of the organizations on the Rutgers college campuses. Over 150 RU clubs signed on to say “We Are All SJP” and it became obvious that the administration would be stirring a major mess with the students by following through with their repressive measures.

Caught empty handed of any evidence of any such offense, Rutgers was forced to reinstate the group on albeit, the administration with great servility assures its clients (some descriptive of their clients) that the group is “under probation” even without any evidence of wrongdoing – and the administration will keep a close watch on the group – meaning that the groups members can assume that there is potential monitoring of their activities by some campus apparatus.

Statement of Rutgers STudents for Justce in Palestine, December 13th, 2023

This petition with more information, this petition is currently suspended since SJP has been reinstated.

This a support statement for Rutgers students and students at two NJ high schools who have also come under administrative and other repression for their positions against US support for genocide from the National Black is Back Coalition.

The international Palestine support site Mondoweiss has picked up the story and is celebrating the victory of the students in rolling back the suspension of the group.

From the Mondoweiss article:

“Today, as a result of our collective efforts as students, we proudly announce that Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has been reinstated at Rutgers University but is on probation until December 2024. We recognize the attempted suspension of our organization is nothing short of a political posturing by Rutgers University in response to Zionist pressure.”

This press conference held on January 17 provides the most current update of the Rutgers situation:

SJP Rutgers- NB Press Conference 1/17 (youtube.com)