[News] Fordham University Students Win Landmark Fight to Establish Students for Justice in Palestine Club

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://palestinelegal.org/news/2019/8/6/fordham-university-students-win-landmark-fight-to-establish-palestine-club 



  Fordham University Students Win Landmark Fight to Establish Palestine Club

August 06, 2019
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    Judge Orders University to Recognize Students for Justice in
    Palestine Club

/August 6, 2019, New York –/ Five Fordham University students have won a 
landmark legal victory against Fordham University, which sought to 
prohibit them from forming a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) 
club at their university. The students, represented by the Center for 
Constitutional Rights, Palestine Legal, and cooperating counsel Alan 
Levine, argued that Fordham University violated its own rules when, in 
2016, it vetoed the United Student Government’s approval of SJP, 
preventing the students from forming the SJP club.

The Court annulled Fordham’s decision to deny SJP club status, finding 
it arbitrary and capricious, as nothing in Fordham’s rules permitted it 
to “reject an application of a student club because it criticized the 
policies of only one nation.” In her ruling, Justice Nancy Bannon stated 
that “it must be concluded that [Fordham University’s] disapproval of 
SJP was made in large part because the subject of SJP’s criticism is the 
State of Israel, rather than some other nation, in spite of the fact 
that SJP advocates only legal, nonviolent tactics aimed at changing 
Israel’s policies.”

Justice Bannon noted that “the consideration and discussion of differing 
views is actually part of Fordham's mission, regardless of whether that 
consideration and discussion might discomfit some and polarize others.”

/Awad, et al. v. Fordham University/ is the first lawsuit in the country 
challenging institutional censorship of students advocating for justice 
in Palestine, and this win marks the first major legal victory for free 
speech for advocates of Palestine on college campuses.

  “The administration unfairly hindered my and my fellow classmates’ 
abilities to advocate for the human rights of Palestinians,” said Ahmad 
Awad, who graduated from Fordham University in 2017. “Although over 
1,000 days have passed since we initiated the process for club status, I 
did not give up on my fight for human rights and free speech. I 
continued to advocate for justice in Palestine, and now because of 
Justice Bannon’s order, no Fordham student will be restricted or 
prohibited from advocating for justice in Palestine.”

Said Veer Shetty, whose attorneys argued on his behalf in February to 
add him to the complaint since the last remaining original petitioner 
graduated in May, “I am beyond happy that Justice Bannon chose to uphold 
the supposed values of our university and academic freedom. A huge thank 
you goes to everyone who worked on our behalf. Fordham’s Students for 
Justice in Palestine would not exist today without all of their tireless 
efforts. We, as a new club, will be equally tireless in our efforts to 
fight for the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people.”

Said Sapphira Lurie, who graduated from Fordham University in 2017, 
“When universities promise they are ‘committed to research and education 
that assist in the alleviation of poverty, the promotion of justice, the 
protection of human rights and respect for the environment,’ as Fordham 
defines its university’s characteristics, they must allow students to 
pursue this education. Rather than allow Fordham’s administration to 
impose its backwards and imperialist politics on us, we were victorious 
in the fight for students’ rights to organize for justice for Palestine. 
This victory shows that when we fight back, we can win. Free Palestine!”

The lawsuit, filed in April 2017, argued that Fordham’s veto of the 
student government’s approval of SJP was arbitrary and capricious, 
violating its own policies. In November 2017, the students filed a 
motion for a preliminary injunction asking the court to direct the 
university to recognize SJP urgently, as some of the students had 
graduated and others would soon graduate. Last night, Justice Bannon 
granted the students’ petition and unambiguously ordered Fordham 
University to “recognize Students for Justice in Palestine at Fordham 
University as a university-sanctioned club…”

“We are thrilled that students at Fordham will finally be able to form a 
Students for Justice in Palestine club,” said**Center for Constitutional 
Rights Deputy Legal Director Maria LaHood 
<https://ccrjustice.org/home/who-we-are/staff/lahood-maria>. “The 
students’ support for Palestinian rights and their demand to freely 
express that support truly exemplify Fordham’s stated values, unlike the 
Administration’s shameful actions here.”

Said Levine, “Fordham’s decision to deny recognition to Students for 
Justice in Palestine was so utterly arbitrary and irrational that it can 
only be understood in the context of the nationwide effort to silence 
those voices seeking justice for Palestinians. In succumbing to those 
forces, Fordham abandoned its obligation to foster critical points of 
view on matters of public concern. Justice Bannon’s principled decision 
reasserts the judiciary’s role to ensure that voices of marginalized 
communities will be heard. Nothing could be more important at this moment.”

Said Radhika Sainath, senior staff attorney at Palestine Legal, “The 
judge rightly recognized that students trying to start an SJP were being 
singled out for censorship because they cared about Palestinian freedom. 
But yesterday’s decision makes clear, there can be no Palestine 
exception to speech at Fordham.”

Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights have documented 
<https://ccrjustice.org/the-palestine-exception> “the Palestine 
Exception” to free speech, the broad and growing pattern of suppression 
of activism for Palestinian rights across the United States, 
particularly on college campuses. Tactics used to suppress Palestine 
advocacy include administrative disciplinary actions, harassment, 
firings, baseless legal complaints, legislative attacks, and false 
accusations of terrorism and antisemitism. Palestine Legal has 
documented 1,247 incidents of suppression targeting speech supportive of 
Palestinian rights between 2014 and 2018.

For more information, visit the Center for Constitutional Rights’ case 
page 
<https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/awad-et-al-v-fordham-university>.

/Palestine Legal is an independent organization dedicated to protecting 
the civil and constitutional rights of people in the US who speak out 
for Palestinian freedom. Our mission is to bolster the Palestine 
solidarity movement by challenging efforts to threaten, harass and 
legally bully activists into silence and inaction. Visit 
//www.palestinelegal.org/ <https://palestinelegal.org/>/ and follow 
//@pal_legal/ <https://twitter.com/pal_legal>/./

/The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under 
threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, 
and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional 
Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural 
racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental 
overreach. Learn more at //ccrjustice.org/ 
<https://ccrjustice.org/node/1727>/./

/Follow the Center for Constitutional Rights on social media: //Center 
for Constitutional Rights/ 
<https://www.facebook.com/CenterforConstitutionalRights>/on Facebook, 
//@theCCR/ <https://twitter.com/theCCR>/on Twitter, and //ccrjustice/ 
<https://www.instagram.com/ccrjustice/>/on Instagram./

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