University Sued Over Canceled Oct. 7 Vigil

Students for Justice in Palestine group says First Amendment rights are being violated
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 18, 2024 5:50 PM CDT
University Sued Over Canceled Oct. 7 Vigil
In this file photo, students sit on the McKeldin Mall at the University of Maryland College Park, where the group had planned to hold the vigil.   (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via AP)

A First Amendment lawsuit has been filed in federal court to challenge the University of Maryland's decision to cancel a vigil on Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. The Students for Justice in Palestine group planned the vigil to mourn the lives lost in the war and raise awareness of the dire living conditions in Gaza, but University President Darryll J. Pines announced on Sept. 1 that approval had been revoked and "only university-sponsored events that promote reflection" would be allowed on campus on Oct. 7.

  • The lawsuit, brought by Palestine Legal and the Council on American-Islamic Relations on behalf of the student group, says the event was an interfaith vigil planned with the Jewish Voice for Peace group, the Guardian reports.

  • The lawsuit seeks to have restrictions on the event declared unconstitutional. "The First Amendment does not allow campus officials to establish free expression-black-out days, even on occasions that may be emotional or politically polarizing," it states. The suit also seeks damages and legal fees.
  • Pines said in his Sept. 1 announcement that "numerous calls have been made to cancel and restrict the events that take place" on Oct. 7, the Washington Post reports. He said he asked university police for a safety assessment and decided to revoke approval "out of an abundance of caution."

  • Zach Greenberg, a First Amendment attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told the Diamondback campus newspaper that public universities should uphold students' free speech rights instead of "catering to the mob."
  • In a statement earlier this month, the university's Jewish Student Union said it was "relieved" that the vigil had been canceled, the Post reports. "October 7th, the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, is a day of mourning for the Jewish and Israeli community," the group said.
(More University of Maryland stories.)

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