Duke lifts pro-Palestine group’s suspension over anti-Zionist imagery

Duke University has reinstated a pro-Palestine student group after suspending it over a social media graphic that critics called antisemitic.

Duke suspended Students for Justice in Palestine earlier this year after the group promoted an event about Iran, Zionism and so-called American imperialism.

The graphic showed a pig with a Star of David. Critics said the image used antisemitic stereotypes and offended Jewish students.

Duke later found the post did not violate the school’s discrimination and harassment policy.

“The post, while offensive, in that it alludes to antisemitic tropes, does not violate the Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment and Related Misconduct because there was insufficient information to support the existence of a hostile educational environment,” Sharon Gooding, Duke’s associate vice president for institutional equity, wrote in a letter to the group.

Duke restored the group’s status and funding. However, the school required the group to keep the image off its social media pages.

Some Jewish students criticized the decision.

“While I always support a deliberative process in evaluating claims of discrimination, the graphic from SJP was so clearly offensive to Jewish people. The idea that this post did not violate university guidelines is shocking,” Duke senior Zachary Patterson told Fox News. Fox News.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression supported Duke’s decision to reinstate the group. The group said Duke should not have suspended it.

“FIRE is pleased that Duke reinstated SJP, but the group never should have been suspended over the cartoon in the first place,” Jessie Appleby, a program officer at FIRE, told Fox.

Appleby also said Duke’s investigation may make students afraid to speak out.

“The investigation into SJP will have ripple effects,” Appleby said. “Students might fear speaking up given that Duke has shown willingness to investigate and punish unpopular speech.”

The dispute comes as colleges across the country face fights over anti-Israel activism, antisemitism and free speech.

Several Students for Justice in Palestine chapters have faced investigations or discipline since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Duke case also shows how schools often struggle to apply their rules fairly. Colleges often promise to protect students from hate. However, they also often protect harsh political speech, even when students say it targets their faith and ethnicity.

That leaves some students wondering when campus leaders will act and when they will tell students to accept offensive speech.