The ACLU of Pennsylvania has filed suit against the University of Pittsburgh on behalf of Students for Justice in Palestine, a campus club placed on indefinite suspension by student conduct officials. The lawsuit was foreshadowed by a March 21 statement released by the civil rights organization urging the university to drop the disciplinary proceedings.
The club’s conduct violation hearings began in January — spurred by a study-in held at Hillman library, during which students donned keffiyehs and taped protest signs to their laptops. Since then, Pitt has cited additional club activities in support of their decision to suspend and threaten further action. These include a public letter in defense of the club signed by campus and community organizations — which Pitt argued was an attempt to lobby decisionmakers in SJP’s conduct case — and the club’s use of social media to publicize local pro-Palestine events.
In a recent op-ed, Pitt faculty and staff write that SJP’s suspension reflects a “double standard,” arguing that events with controversial speakers (Pitt clubs have hosted firebrands such as Charlie Kirk on campus) have historically been approved by administration.
The ACLU Pa. lawsuit states that the university violated the club’s first amendment rights to freedom of speech and peaceful demonstration. ACLU Pa. Legal Director Vic Walczak says their involvement was triggered by the suspension, but that the university has been attempting to suppress SJP’s activities for much longer.
“The group is suspended — they lost a lot of privileges, they lost funding,” Walczak tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “But this is really about what the group perceives as ongoing restrictions against them by Pitt. When you look at the history going back probably a year or more, the university does seem to be targeting them.”
SJP members say this has included disciplinary action and criminal proceedings against individual student activists, including the dismissal of one.
“They’re clearly willing to do whatever it takes to go after students they see as at the forefront of these social movements and make examples out of them,” one club representative tells City Paper. “My family members are extremely concerned that I could be suspended, that I could be expelled.”
In a press release, ACLU Pa. alleges that the university’s actions are “in apparent retaliation for the club’s public criticism of the university.”
The Pitt chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine was founded in the early 2000s, but became most active in 2023, shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the subsequent, ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Members say the club is meant to serve as a “local student voice for Palestinian solidarity,” to call for “transparency in Pitt’s endowment investments,” and “negotiate divestment” from Israel and American weapons manufacturers.
As of April 2025, Pitt has not publicly released information on what these investments look like, although the university has invested in index funds that could include Israeli companies.
In the past, student pressure on Pitt’s Board of Trustees has led to action, such as the 1987 decision to divest from companies that did business with South Africa’s apartheid regime. Divestment came on the heels of student encampments and protests by an organizing group called Pittsburghers Against Apartheid.
SJP’s suspension follows a national trend of action against pro-Palestine student groups, including SJP chapters at UCLA, the University of Georgia, and the University of Michigan. Most recently, a panel of U.S. senators demanded that Columbia University share all records pertaining to the campus’ SJP chapter.
“It’s not a secret that colleges and universities have been going after students and faculty that promote Palestinian solidarity. Attacks unlike any I’ve seen in my lifetime — now, I wasn’t around during the McCarthy years,” Walczak quips.
“This has all been put on steroids by the Trump administration’s executive orders,” he continues. “They don’t have the force and effect of law. They cannot override the Constitution or federal statutes. And yet, you see colleges and universities, you know, cowering in fear and giving in to that.”
ACLU Pa.’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, is a federal free speech lawsuit, which petitions the government for a redress of grievances. In this case, a halt to conduct hearings and reinstatement of the club.
It follows precedent set by landmark Supreme Court cases such as Tinker vs. Des Moines, in which the ACLU represented high schoolers who were suspended for wearing armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War. Tinker established students’ right to free speech and expression.
Walczak encourages all students to continue to participate in advocacy on their campuses and in their communities.
“They should do so without fear,” he tells CP. “If they’re uncertain of where the line is, the line on their activities, they should consult with a lawyer. They can certainly contact the ACLU, fill out an intake form, we’ll get back to them very quickly. But now is not the time to succumb to fear. Now is the time to stand up for your principles and exercise your rights.”
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2025.
