PROVIDENCE – American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc. and the ACLU’s Brown University chapter are calling on the Ivy League institution to reinstate the Students for Justice in Palestine campus chapter from its ongoing temporary suspension, with the ACLU calling the suspension “a complete prior restraint on this group’s speech.”
Back in October,
the university suspended the Students for Justice in Palestine university chapter and initiated a review of alleged inappropriate behavior that occurred during a recent protest by the group at the time. Brown Executive Vice President of Planning and Policy and Interim Vice President for Campus Life Russell C. Carey wrote that there was “deeply concerning behavior” that occurred during the group’s protest on Oct. 18 over the Corporation of Brown University’s
recent vote to not divest from 10 companies that do business from Israel after reviewing a proposal from students requesting that the Ivy League institution do so.
Carey claimed at the time that university administrators, board members and staff reported such poor behaviors during the protest, including reports of banging on a vehicle, profanity being screamed at individuals at close range, screaming at individuals while filming them and making a racial epithet toward a person of color.
According to Brown’s code of conduct policy, any group that is suspended “has lost all rights and privileges associated with being a recognized student group,” meaning the group does not exist at the university for the time being. Therefore, the group cannot host or sponsor events, meet a group, receive university funding, recruit new members and meet either on or off campus.
On Wednesday, ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown, and Rachel Lee and Stephen Robinson, co-presidents of the ACLU’s Brown University chapter, sent
a four-page letter to Brown President Christina H. Paxson stating the suspension “severely undermines” the university’s stated commitment to “upholding the principles of freedom of expression for all views and perspectives.” They also wrote the suspension “lacks even the most rudimentary of fairness.”
The ACLU says the result of the suspension is “an important, if controversial,” student political group has been “completely silenced” on campus, all before having any formal opportunity to contest the allegations lodged against it.
“This hardly displays the respect for free speech that the University’s policies purport to embrace,” the ACLU wrote. “That this ‘interim’ punishment has already lasted three months only heightens the gravity of the university’s actions.”
The ACLU calls on Brown to “immediately revoke” the suspension and instead allow the Students for Justice in Palestine to resume its activities on campus pending any decisions after formal due process hearings by the university’s student conduct board.
Brown University spokesperson Brian Clark declined comment Wednesday to questions from Providence Business News about the ACLU’s demand or when a formal status review of the Students for Justice in Palestine will take place, saying the university’s response to the demand letter will be direct to ACLU representatives and Brown student chapter leaders who contacted Brown.
(UPDATED 9th paragraph to include comment from Brown University spokesperson Brian Clark.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
