Pitt Palestine club can resume activities, judge rules (2026)

A U.S. District Court judge ruled Thursday that Students for Justice in Palestine [SJP] can again act as a club on the University of Pittsburgh campus, lifting, three weeks ahead of schedule, a suspension stemming from a 2024 campus protest.

Shortly after a nearly two-hour hearing in a Downtown courtroom, Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan wrote a three-page opinion ordering Pitt to “reinstate [SJP’s] full privileges as a registered student organization.”

The judge wrote that Pitt applied its code of conduct against SJP in a “content-based” fashion, and that the code’s rules “sweep too broadly” to further the interests of fair administration of justice. SJP, meanwhile, was suffering “irreparable harm” by being unable to gather or recruit members on campus, particularly at the beginning of the academic year.

University administrators held a February conduct hearing against the group, then suspended the organization in March following the release of an open letter condemning the disciplinary effort. More than 70 Pitt and community groups signed the letter sent to university officials.

Pitt accused the organization of disrupting the hearing process by sending the letter to, among other individuals, the conduct hearing officers. SJP was placed on an interim suspension for violating university policy, leading the American Civil Liberties Union to file a lawsuit against Pitt on behalf of the club on April 15.

Ranjan wrote: “Pitt makes a good point that there is a public interest in the integrity of conduct hearings at a public university. Indeed, to the Court’s eye, this was unquestionably Pitt’s driving force behind the original charge and suspension, not any sort of animus towards SJP and its viewpoint.”

The ACLU argued the university trampled on SJP and its members’ First Amendment, free speech rights.

Ranjan found that Pitt would be on firmer ground if it had a “more refined and tailored rule” regarding the integrity of its conduct hearing process.

‘Every day makes a difference’

Thursday’s hearing was held to decide whether the suspension — initially indefinite, but then cut to six months — should be lifted before Sept. 18.

During the hearing, ACLU Pennsylvania Legal Director Vic Walczak said that despite the suspension ending in a few weeks, “every day makes a difference” for a student organization. He said room reservations for events or meetings are already booked through October.

Pitt counsel Joshua W.B. Richards pressed the ACLU attorneys to establish the harm done to the club, calling the suspension and its effects “a very light deprivation.” He said that individual members were allowed to engage in advocacy and that off-campus advocacy for SJP as an entity was allowed.

Outside the courthouse, before the ruling, SJP Co-President Mia Suwaid said that Pitt’s actions have had a chilling effect.

“Us as officers, as SJP, we are not able to tell potential new members, ‘Oh look, come see us at this event’ … because we’re not able to host those events. We’re not able to host any fundraising.”

Suwaid said fundraising for Palestine is one of SJP’s main priorities. Around $50,000 was raised over the last academic year, she said.

“That’s essentially six months of lost time, of lost ability to not only engage with our students, but even talk about the immense negative impact that has been felt by … people in the West Bank, people all across Palestine,” Suwaid said.

Even though the suspension is lifted, the lawsuit will continue, according to SJP’s attorneys.

“The end goal is to vindicate the rights of SJP Pitt, and it’s also to protect the free speech rights of students at all universities in Pennsylvania,” said ACLU lawyer Solomon Furious Worlds.

Worlds mentioned that while the open letter allowed the ACLU to take the mantle of a case, there were “numerous other issues” involving Pitt’s suppression of pro-Palestinian speech by SJP.

Pitt issued a statement after the ruling was issued indicating that it is “committed to maintaining a campus community where free speech is affirmed and free expression is assured. We will comply with the order issued on Thursday but cannot comment further as litigation is ongoing.”

Ranjan wrote in a footnote to his decision: “This entire dispute could have been handled differently. On one hand, SJP should have used better judgment and made sure not to copy the hearing officers on the email at issue while the hearing was pending. On the other hand, Pitt likely didn’t need to charge SJP over it, given that the email was more of a rhetorical piece and played no role in the initial disciplinary decision.”

The judge added that “it may be time to ratchet things down and get back to campus for a fresh start to the academic year.”

Amid turmoil, a study-in spurred the lawsuit

The university conduct hearing was to focus largely on whether a December 2024 overnight “study-in” at the campus library and sponsored by SJP broke Pitt’s rules. Students at the study-in gathered to prepare for finals, many donning Palestinian flags or keffiyehs, which are traditional Middle Eastern scarves that symbolize Palestinian solidarity.

Participating students wrote pro-Palestinian messages on whiteboards surrounding them, including “Pitt tuition $$$ funds occupation” and “Lift the siege on Gaza now.” The students were made to disperse by Pitt’s police department and a university official on grounds they were having an event in a part of the library that couldn’t be reserved.

The lawsuit claims that no specific policy in the university’s code of conduct was referenced in subsequent communications from administrators related to the event. Still, club leaders were subject to disciplinary conferences prior to the Feb. 4 hearing.

SJP has been an established organization at Pitt since 2009, but became more active following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Gaza-based Hamas into Israel, and Israel’s subsequent invasion of the Palestinian enclave. Tensions rose on campuses nationwide, including in Oakland.

As Jewish groups reported rising numbers of antisemitic incidents, Islamophobic activity also surged. Pitt officials urged the campus community to avoid letting “disagreements spill over into hateful rhetoric.” Students there and at neighboring Carnegie Mellon University, associated with both Palestinian and Jewish organizations, said they were facing backlash, including some from people entering campus but apparently unaffiliated with the schools.

By April 2024, pro-Palestinian or anti-war encampments were popping up throughout the U.S., and Pitt saw several such actions. The last major encampment emerged after that spring semester ended, and disbanded under pressure from police on June 4, 2024.

Accusations that universities tolerated antisemitism have become central to President Donald Trump’s push to change the culture of higher education institutions.

Editor’s note (8/29): This story was supplemented with comments received after initial publication.

Maddy Franklin reports on higher ed for Pittsburgh’s Public Source, in partnership with Open Campus, and can be reached at madison@publicsource.org.