Students File Lawsuits, Complaints Against Universities Over Pro-Palestinian Protest Response

During the spring 2024 semester, thousands of college students across the country organized protests opposing heightened Israeli military aggression in Gaza following the October 7 attacks by Hamas. Students marched and established encampments, demanding that their respective institutions divest from companies supporting Israel.

Some of these protests have led to allegations of antisemitism, and Jewish students at New York University and the University of California, Berkeley have sued their institutions for allegedly allowing antisemitism on campus. Now, some pro-Palestinian protestors are suing their schools, alleging their responses to the protests were unlawful.

This fall semester, students from multiple universities — including the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Georgia, and the University of Vermont — allege that their respective universities violated their rights by banning students from campus, arresting protestors, and suspending student organizations that supported the protests.

Here is an overview of the most high-profile student-led lawsuits and federal complaints recently levied against universities.

Two students and two faculty members arrested for participating in a pro-Palestinian encampment on UCLA’s campus filed a lawsuit against the university for violating their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

Students in support of Palestine at UCLA set up their encampment April 25. Five days later, on April 30, the university declared the encampment unlawful and announced that those involved could face suspension or expulsion. That night, around 100 pro-Israel counterprotestors tried to breach the barricade and enter the encampment, turning violent for several hours before police intervened, according to the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s student-run newspaper.

The next night, police officially disbanded the encampment and arrested more than 200 pro-Palestinian protesters.

“The encampment captured the ideals of campus life and the promises of an inclusive democracy where students from diverse backgrounds came together to protest, socialize, study, pray, eat and dance,” Benjamin Kersten, a plaintiff in the case and a graduate student in art history at UCLA, said in a press release.

“Our leaders and university administrators should take a page from their students instead of choosing to repress their students and workers fighting for justice.”

The complaint, filed on Oct. 22, describes the encampment as “nonviolent” and “educational,” alleging the university targeted the encampment because of its pro-Palestinian stance.

“While administrators claimed that they cleared the encampment in order to protect protesters from further instances of mob violence, our laws prohibit the suppression of speech because it is unpopular or might provoke violent reactions,” Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney at the ACLU SoCal, who is representing the plaintiffs, said.

“Institutions of higher learning have and should continue to serve as critical spaces to contest ideas, critique mainstream orthodoxies, and encourage dissenting voices.”

In a statement to CBS News, UCLA officials called the encampment a “focal point for violence.”

“The encampment that arose on campus this spring became a focal point for violence, a disruption to campus and was in violation of the law,” officials said. “These conditions necessitated its removal.”

On Sept. 10, Georgia Students for Justice in Palestine (formerly UGA Students for Justice in Palestine) and the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia) filed a Title VI federal civil rights complaint against the University of Georgia (UGA).

The complaint says that Georgia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and students associated with the group have faced anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic harassment on campus since October 7.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits federally funded institutions — including universities — from discrimination based on race, color, and national origin.

“UGA did not take meaningful steps to end the harassment, prevent it from occurring, or remedy its effects, according to the complaint. Instead, UGA reinforced the hostile anti-Palestinian environment,” a press release from CAIR-Georgia read.

The complaint asks the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to investigate the university’s “extreme differential treatment of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students, students perceived to be Palestinian, and students associated with or advocating for Palestinians.” It says the differential treatment “culminated” on April 29, when campus police arrested 16 individuals involved in a pro-Palestinian encampment for trespassing — nine of whom were students.

The complaint details how students were locked out of on-campus housing, fired from on-campus jobs, and prohibited from submitting coursework because of the suspensions. It also said faculty were warned to call 911 if they saw one of these students on campus.

In a statement to BestColleges, a UGA spokesperson said that the encampment set up by SJP was “clearly prohibited” and was held “in willful violation of university policy.” The statement further noted that the group “declined to accept alternatives by the university to conduct their protest in accordance with university policies, and refused repeated warnings to either comply with these policies or disperse.”

“While we are dedicated to fostering a climate of free speech, we must also enforce our policies and hold accountable those who choose to blatantly ignore these rules or disrupt our learning environment,” the statement read.

The complaint also claims that university administration and UGA President Jere Morehead have consistently disregarded SJP students’ meeting requests and ignored their concerns over threats to their physical safety.

On Aug. 28, SJP withdrew from UGA as a university-affiliated student organization and changed its name from UGA SJP to Georgia SJP, “due to concerns for the safety and educational access of its current members,” according to the complaint.

Zeena Mohamed, one of the student complainants, said in the release that they faced “relentless doxing, threats, and harassment both online and on-campus” as an Arab and Muslim student at UGA.

“I’ve been subjected to blatant racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia, and every time I sought support from the university, UGA not only failed to respond, but actively used its institutional power to target and profile myself and other Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students,” Mohamed said.

On Sept. 9, the University of Vermont Students for Justice in Palestine (UVMSJP) filed a lawsuit against the University of Vermont (UVM) over the university’s decision to suspend the student organization, alleging that UVM violated their civil rights.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to overturn UVMSJP’s interim suspension, which arose from conduct violations linked to a 10-day pro-Palestinian encampment set up at UVM, involving around 50 students and a dozen tents, according to the suit.

The group was placed on interim suspension on May 1 — three days into the encampment — for violating six university policies, according to the “Student Organization Misconduct” page on UVM’s website.

According to the lawsuit text, the order “suspended UVMSJP’s rights to engage in any activities on UVM’s campus pending an investigation … requiring UVMJSP to engage in self-censorship.”

“The University of Vermont chose to target our chapter of SJP by placing us under “interim suspension” with no set end date, no opportunity to appeal any charges or sentence, and no right to legal representation,” a social media post from UVMSJP read.

“UVM suspending SJP without due process represents illegal prior restraint of our first amendment rights, and demonstrates how terrified UVM is of a mass movement of students organizing to force them to divest from the genocidal occupation of Palestine.”

UVMSJP said on social media that the university has “repeatedly refused to meet with our legal counsel and faculty advisor to discuss rescinding the suspension.”

In a statement to BestColleges, a UVM spokesperson said the university “cannot comment on pending litigation,” but confirmed that the “student group in question” is on interim suspension.

“UVM values free expression as a vital component in our campus community provided it is practiced in compliance with university policies,” the statement said.

Additionally, two students and a professor are suing UCSC, alleging that the university wrongfully barred them from campus after attending a pro-Palestinian protest on the evening of May 30.

The lawsuit, filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on Sept. 9, claims that the university infringed on the rights of students and faculty by subjecting them to campus bans based on California Penal Code section 626.4, which allows school officials to ban individuals who “willfully disrupted the orderly operation” for a maximum of two weeks.

The suit claims that campus police “indiscriminately” banned over 110 people while breaking up the protest, and that it did not notify individuals of their bans properly. It also said police didn’t conduct hearings before the bans, nor did they provide findings.

“No hearing or opportunity to be heard was provided before any of these bans went into effect. No individualized findings were made about how, postarrest, ‘the continued presence’ on campus of each summarily banned person presented ‘a substantial and material threat of significant injury to persons or property,'” the suit read.

The lawsuit is seeking an injunction, prohibiting the university from banning individuals “en masse” before a hearing and requiring the university to “provide sufficient notice and due process in compliance with federal and state law and UCSC policy when enforcing Section 626.4 on campus,” according to the filing.

The plaintiffs are joined by the ACLU Foundation of Northern California and the Center for Protest Law & Litigation.

“UCSC issued these bans en masse without making the findings required by law,” Chessie Thacher, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, said in a press release. “Officials used Penal Code section 626.4 to justify their actions, but UCSC’s own actions violated that very statute, as well as long-standing California Supreme Court precedent.”

In the release, the two student plaintiffs say the ban affected their housing status, job, academic performance, and medical care.

“I was a Resident Assistant living and working in campus housing so the ban was devastating,” Laaila Irshad, an undergraduate at UCSC, said in the release. “I failed my school courses as I could not access my computer, attend classes, or complete assignments.”

In a statement to BestColleges, a UCSC spokesperson said that the university is “unwavering in its commitment to upholding the rights of free expression and speech, while also preserving the right to access to education, residences, and campus facilities free from obstruction.”

“We remain confident that decisions made in the spring were necessary and critical to preserve safety, access, and operations of the campus,” the statement said.