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By: Zainab Bozai
On September 19th, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Loyola University Chicago was put under “temporary suspension” by the University’s administration pending an “investigation” into alleged misconduct. The suspension was lifted on September 26, after SJP leaders met with administrators. Several students affiliated with SJP remain under investigation for participating in an attempt to register at a table hosted on campus for Taglit-Birthright Israel, a program that provides trips to Israel exclusively for Jewish students.
SJP applauds the University’s move to lift its suspension. The administration changed its justification for the suspension, initially indicating it was related to the investigation, and then claiming it was in response to complaints about another alleged violation of university policies that SJP rebutted with documentation of its compliance with school rules. The lifting of the suspension shows that the administration recognizes that SJP has done nothing to justify a suspension, which is an extreme measure, used only when there is a threat to safety.
SJP, however, remains deeply concerned about the ongoing investigation of some of its members for exercising their right to express their political views by lining up and asking questions at the Taglit-Birthright table to highlight the program’s discriminatory policies. The investigation of students was opened in response to “allegations of misconduct” made by students hosting the Taglit-Birthright table, which included claims that SJP harassed and created a “threat” to the safety of students. The accusations are both exaggerated and inflammatory, attempting to label SJP as an aggressive group motivated by animus against Jewish students, and intent on causing them harm.
The complaints were filed immediately after about fifteen students decided on an ad-hoc basis to peacefully line up at the Taglit-Birthright table and ask if they, as Palestinians whose families were expelled from villages inside present-day Israel, could also register for a Birthright trip. Taglit-Birthright Israel is an Israeli government-funded program that sponsors free trips to Israel exclusively for Jewish students on the basis of a claimed "Birthright" to the land, despite the fact that Israel is built upon the dispossession of indigenous Palestinians. Any Jewish student worldwide can register for the program, while indigenous non-Jewish Palestinians are not only ineligible for the program, but often are denied the right to live in or even visit their homeland freely.
The decision to attempt to register for the program was made the night before the tabling, by individual Palestinian and Arab students, after SJP decided not to take action as a student organization. About fifteen students independently decided to line up at the Birthright Israel registration table on September 9th to attempt to register for the trips.