Gadeir Abbas, senior litigation attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, speaks after a Sept. 30 hearing at U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Photo by William J. Ford.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the University of Maryland, College Park, must allow a vigil by a pro-Palestinian student group on Oct. 7, the anniversary of a Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and sparked the Israel-Hamas war.
“Even if pro-Israel groups see October 7 as somehow sacrosanct, it is at least fair argument for pro-Palestine groups to see the date as sacrosanct as well, symbolic of what they believe is Palestine’s longstanding fight for the liberation of Gaza,” U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte wrote.
The university first approved the plan in July by Students for Justice in Palestine to hold what they said would be a vigil and educational activities on Oct. 7 on McKeldin Mall in the heart of campus. But university officials later canceled all student events on Oct. 7, citing concerns about potential violence.
The student group filed suit, claiming the ban violated their First Amendment rights, and Messitte agreed Tuesday.
“UMCP’s decision to revoke appears to be nothing less than an effort to suppress speech which would be offensive to some, indeed many. This is true even if Defendants … in fact really did anticipate on-campus turbulence,” Messitte wrote.
He issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the students and their proposal to hold a vigil and educational activities on Oct. 7, saying the group had “demonstrated a substantial likelihood that it will prevail on the merits of its freedom of speech claim.”
In a statement Tuesday, the university said it continues to have concerns about safety at the event. But it said it will abide by the court’s decision and work with student organizers, while implementing a “robust” safety plan with “enhanced staffing and resources with a strong security presence.”
“Event organizers, campus officials and UMPD (campus police) will implement a plan that allows all events to proceed in accordance with the court’s ruling,” according to the university. “Notwithstanding today’s court ruling, the safety concerns that were raised remain a source of ongoing attention and focus for us.”
Messitte ordered the student group to place a $2,500 security bond with campus before the event. And he added that “speech and slogans” will be allowed, that does not include “any incitement to imminent violence, physical or verbal threats, impeding access of any students to class or buildings, property damage of any sort, the occupation of buildings, encampments, and, in general, defiance of reasonable crowd control measures employed by security personnel.”
The judge’s decision comes one month after university President Darryll Pines released a campus letter Sept. 1 to cancel all student-led events on campus on Oct. 7. The student group, represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Palestine Legal, filed suit about two weeks later.
At a hearing Monday before Messitte, University of Maryland Police Chief David Mitchell cited safety concerns as one of the main reasons he recommended the vigil be canceled. The university instead rescheduled the event for Oct. 8, but the student group said Oct. 7 was “symbolic.”
Oct. 7 was the day of a Hamas surprise attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis, sparking an ongoing Israeli military assault on Hamas in Gaza that health officials there say may have killed as many as 40,000 people.
Messitte wrote that the students – who were co-hosting the event with a student group called Jewish Voice for Peace – have a First Amendment right to hold their event that day, and that the university had options to provide more security without canceling the event.
“We’re thrilled with the court’s decision,” Gadeir Abbas, deputy litigation director at CAIR, said in a statement Tuesday.
“If the First Amendment didn’t protect students who seek to mourn a genocide and educate the public about it, then it’s meaningless,” Abbas’ statement said. “Universities that have harassed and punished advocates for Palestine across the country should take note.”
But state Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery) said in a text message the ruling exposes the university to “significant, legal liability,” noting that it has “an obligation to maintain a safe campus free from anti-semitism and discrimination.”
“As the Jewish high holidays begin and a day of mourning approaches on Oct. 7, I am deeply appreciative of President Pines’ continued allyship with our Jewish community,” said Waldstreicher, vice chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.