The University temporarily suspended Brown’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine pending an external investigation into conduct violations at a pro-divestment protest held earlier this month.
University policy stipulates that suspended groups lose “all rights and privileges associated with being a recognized student group” on campus, which includes hosting events and group meetings, recruiting members and reserving spaces on campus for group activities.
“Given the severity of alleged threatening, intimidating and harassing actions during an event on campus, Brown University has initiated a review of the event and required the Brown chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to cease all organization activities pending full review of the matter,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark told The Herald.
“The implementation of the interim measures is based on the severity of the alleged behavior and does not prejudge whether the organization violated policy,” he wrote.
On Oct. 18, pro-divestment student activists gathered on the Main Green before marching down to the Warren Alpert Medical School to protest the Brown Corporation’s recent decision not to divest from 10 companies with ties to the Israeli military.
Two days after the protest, Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey sent a community-wide email in which he described the demonstrators’ behavior as “entirely unacceptable” and warned of disciplinary consequences.
Carey cited reports that protestors were “banging on a vehicle,” “screaming profanities at individuals” and at one point used a “racial epithet directed toward a person of color.” He noted that some of these actions may have violated the University’s Code of Student Conduct, and would be “reviewed through University disciplinary processes.”
The University is investigating both student groups and individual protestors, which are subject to different disciplinary procedures. For investigations of student group conduct, administrators in the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards can conduct interviews themselves or appoint an internal or external investigator “if deemed appropriate by the Dean of Students.”
SJP organizers were informed on Thursday that the group was temporarily suspended and that the University had initiated an external investigation.
The Brown Divest Coalition — an umbrella organization of pro-divestment activist groups that includes Students for Justice in Palestine — wrote in a statement to The Herald that “this suspension and other allegations made against SJP by the administration are a retaliatory, politically-motivated ploy to defame protestors, fracture the student movement and detract from their complicity in the extermination of the Palestinian people.”
“No amount of external investigations, increased police presence, conduct hearings or intimidating emails from Russell Carrey will quell our commitment to divestment and to the liberation of Palestine,” the statement reads.
Sophia Wotman is a senior staff writer covering activism. She is a junior from Long Island, New York concentrating in Political Science with a focus on women’s rights. She is a jazz trumpet player, and often performs on campus and around Providence.
Sam Levine is a University News editor from Brooklyn, New York covering on-campus activism. He is a senior concentrating in International and Public Affairs.
