Pitt's Suspension of Pro-Palestine Student Group Violates First Amendment, Says ACLU Lawsuit
The University of Pittsburgh campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Nov. 26, 2020. Photo: Gene J. Puskar/AP
The University of Pittsburgh violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments when it suspended the school's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine last month, according to a federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday against the school.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The complaint alleges that the University of Pittsburgh violated the Constitution's prohibitions on restricting free speech when it placed the SJP chapter on an indefinite suspension last month, after the group organized a letter condemning what it said was the university's harassment of SJP.
'The First Amendment requires that public universities respect students' right to engage in vigorous debate about important issues of the day. Pitt's suspension of the club's status and other interference with peaceful advocacy is unconstitutional retaliation,' ACLU of Pennsylvania legal director Witold Walczak said in a press release. 'Pitt cannot constitutionally put its thumb on one side of the debate by harassing and chilling the pro-Palestinian students' side of that important discussion.'
The lawsuit is one of a wave of similar actions taken by student protesters and their allies in response to university crackdowns on speech on Palestine.
The University of Pittsburgh did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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