Identity of Speakers
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Students for Justice in Palestine at Swarthmore College
Student
OtherStudent organization that advocates for Palestinian rights and organizes educational events, protests, and campaigns related to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Resources
Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Rally or protest
Social media
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Incident Political Orientation:
Not Clear -
Incident Responses:
University investigation issuing in sanctions
Student sanctioned
Rally or Protests
Campus police
Other Law Enforcement
State Campus Free Speech Act
Title IX or other federal statute
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Incident Status:
No litigation
- Was Speech Code incident
Summary
On March 4, 2025, Swarthmore College suspended the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine after the group staged a protest on February 19, 2025, that violated college policy. Administrators said students entered offices without permission, used a bullhorn indoors, and disrupted campus operations. The suspension immediately cut off access to campus funds, event space, and other resources while the college conducted an investigation. College officials stated the sanctions were based on conduct, not political speech. The chapter has remained suspended since that date.
Student groups responded to the suspension on March 20, 2025, organizing meetings, teach-ins, and demonstrations to contest the sanctions. Members of Students for Justice in Palestine and allied organizations said their February protest was a continuation of advocacy for Palestinian rights and criticized the college’s disciplinary process as lacking transparency and fairness. Administrators maintained that all actions were reviewed under the Student Code of Conduct.
Students for Justice in Palestine members established a new encampment on May 3, 2025. College officials warned that the encampment violated conduct policies, and several students received interim suspensions for refusing to leave. Authorities eventually removed participants, and multiple arrests were made for trespassing and obstruction. The college emphasized that these measures were separate from the initial March 4 suspension and focused on policy violations.
Additional disciplinary actions were issued on February 25, 2026, against individual students affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine for distributing materials deemed violent. These sanctions applied to the students’ conduct and were separate from the earlier suspension of the chapter.
The suspension at Swarthmore occurred within a broader national context in which Students for Justice in Palestine chapters drew heightened scrutiny following actions by the Trump administration directing federal investigations into alleged anti-Semitism on college campuses and emphasizing that universities receiving federal funding could face consequences for failing to address complaints of discrimination against Jewish students. Chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine at universities across the United States were suspended, investigated, or placed on interim restrictions for protests, demonstrations, encampments, or social-media activity that administrators said violated campus policies.
