Palestine Legal and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the University of Maryland after the school canceled an Oct. 7 vigil that a student group planned for those killed in Gaza since the war began after Hamas’s terror attack against Israel a year earlier.
The school announced at the beginning of September it concluded the best way to move forward with the anniversary is “to host only university-sponsored events that promote reflection on this day.”
“Applications for events led by several student organizations have been submitted for October 7, and questions have been raised about the events of the day. Numerous calls have been made to cancel and restrict the events that take place that day, and I fully understand that this day opens emotional wounds and evokes deeply rooted pain. The language has been charged and the rhetoric intense,” said Darryll Pines, president of the University of Maryland.
Palestine Legal said the Students for Justice in Palestine’s event was canceled after it was already approved by the university.
Maryland “canceled the vigil after overwhelming pressure from anti-Palestinian groups and has announced that only university-sponsored ‘expressive events’ would be allowed on campus that day,” the group said.
“The University’s decision constitutes unlawful viewpoint and content-based discrimination, in violation of the First Amendment. This cancellation continues a trend where universities across the country have targeted, harassed, and punished pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide students on their campuses,” Palestine Legal added.
The university said it will allow other events relating to the conflict and the Oct. 7 attack to occur the days before and after the anniversary.
