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A pro-Palestine student activist group at University of Maryland (UMD) has won a $100,000 settlement from the university in a lawsuit stemming from administrators’ blocking of students’ vigil for Gaza last year.
Maryland’s Board of Public Works approved the settlement on Wednesday, marking a win for student pro-Palestine advocates after a judge issued a preliminary injunction in their favor last year.
According to Palestine Legal, a group representing the students, this is the largest financial penalty ever levied on a university for violating the free speech rights of students advocating for Palestinian rights.
“This legal victory reaffirms our protected rights to protest and speak out against the US-Israeli genocide of Palestinians — and we will keep exercising those rights,” said Daniela Colombi, a UMD SJP member, in a statement. “UMD SJP will spend every dollar of UMD’s $100,000 penalty for banning our vigil for Gaza toward organizing for a free Palestine and for collective liberation.”
Last year, the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) arranged to have a vigil on October 7, 2024, to mark one year of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The group reserved a spot on campus for the vigil, and planned to have speeches and teach-ins at the event.
However, the university revoked the approval for the event and banned all student organized activities on campus from occurring that day.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Palestine Legal sued on behalf of the students, saying that the barring of the event violated the students’ First and 14th Amendment rights to free speech and equal protection under the law, respectively.
Administrators cited a letter and threats from pro-Israel students who tried to get the event shut down, in some cases outright calling for the university to shut down speech from the pro-Palestine activists. They brought up statements from pro-Israel individuals who made racist and violent threats against the protest.
A District Court judge granted CAIR and Palestine Legal a preliminary injunction, allowing the vigil to go on. Ultimately, the vigil went on, with over 500 attendees.
The judge argued that the group’s case was “likely to succeed” in its arguments on free speech, and dismissed the pro-Israel individuals’ threats, saying the case is “a matter of law, not of wounded feelings.” Crucially, the judge noted that the use of phrases like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and other pro-Palestine speech constitute free speech. He also found no credence behind the pro-Israel individuals’ argument that the vigil would interrupt Jewish students’ schedules or lives.
“The University of Maryland’s so-called October 7th blackout date was an obvious attempt to silence even the mourning of Palestinian lives,” said Ahmad Kaki, a CAIR attorney, in a statement. “We’re glad the Court saw through this transparent censorship attempt, and we hope this settlement sends a message to institutions across the country that capitulating to bad faith, anti-Palestinian pressure will cost you.”
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