University of California, Los Angeles – Suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine

On February 12, 2025, the University of California, Los Angeles placed the campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine on interim suspension following a February 5, 2025 demonstration at the home of UC Regent Jay Sures. In a campuswide email, Chancellor Julio Frenk stated that the suspension was issued by the Office of Student Conduct while it conducted an administrative review of possible violations of the student group conduct code related to the protest. The interim suspension barred the organizations from applying for or receiving student organization funding, reserving campus space through university systems, or otherwise operating as registered student groups, though individual members remained enrolled students permitted on campus.

The February 5 demonstration began around 6 a.m. and lasted roughly two hours. According to university officials, about 50 protesters affiliated with the organizations gathered outside the home with drums, banners, and signs demanding that the University of California divest from companies connected to Israel. UCLA stated that participants pounded drums and chanted “Jonathan Sures, you will pay, until you see your final day,” surrounded the vehicle of a Sures family member and prevented the person from leaving the driveway, and vandalized the property by placing red handprints on the walls and garage door and hanging banners on hedges. Los Angeles police investigated potential criminal activity connected to the protest. One graduate student involved, Dylan Kupsh, was later sued by Regent Sures but successfully defended against the lawsuit under California’s anti‑SLAPP law, with the court ordering Sures to pay Kupsh’s legal fees.

Protests in response to the suspension occurred on February 18, 2025, when several pro Palestinian organizations and allied groups gathered on campus to oppose the university’s decision and demand reinstatement of the two groups. Campus police stated that participants violated university time, place, and manner rules governing campus demonstrations. On March 28, 2025, after completing its review, UCLA announced stronger sanctions. The Office of Student Conduct recommended indefinitely revoking the registered student organization status of Students for Justice in Palestine and suspending the graduate student chapter for four years, citing the February 5 protest as the central violation.

The suspension at UCLA occurred amid broader controversies on campus that followed pro Palestinian encampments and demonstrations in spring 2024 that drew national attention and allegations that Jewish and Israeli students faced harassment and exclusion from campus during protests. Those events prompted federal civil rights investigations and several lawsuits filed by Jewish students and faculty against the University of California. The suspension at UCLA also occurred within a broader national context in which Students for Justice in Palestine chapters drew heightened scrutiny following actions by the Trump administration after it took office in 2025 directing federal investigations into alleged antisemitism 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.