CLEVELAND — A student group in support of Palestinians at Case Western Reserve University is asking for community support following an “interim loss of recognition.”
Students for Justice in Palestine received the suspension after the university alleges that students associated with SJP glued flyers around the campus, including on the school's spirit wall where students paint messages.
Jad Oglesby, the vice president of CWRU SJP, said the group had nothing to do with the flyers and are now asking the community to help get their group reinstated by calling and emailing officials at CWRU.
"It is frustrating for me as someone who has been with SJP for all four years," Oglesby said. "We didn't organize this event. These are students on campus that were frustrated. They suspended SJP pretty much for an entire semester.
A Feb. 26 letter the university sent to the student group said, "Based on the organization's ongoing failure to follow the University's posting policy and student code of conduct, as well as a failure to respond to requests from the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, the decision has been made to impose an Interim Loss of Recognition on CWRU Students for Justice in Palestine. This means that, effective immediately, the organization is no longer recognized as a student organization at Case Western Reserve University and is no longer eligible to receive any student organization privileges for the duration of the interim loss of recognition."
The letter said that 11 individuals who were believed to be associated with CWRU SJP engaged in glueing fliers to the CWRU Spirit Wall on Feb. 13, in violation of CWRU's posting policy and student code of conduct.
University officials then said there were four individuals, also believed to be associated with CWRU SJP, who glued flyers on Feb. 16.
The CWRU Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards reached out to advisers and organization leaders on Feb. 16, 19, 21 and 23 to schedule a time to meet and required the organization to provide information about individuals involved with the incidents and a roster of organizational membership and leaders.
"As of today, the organization has not complied with any of these items. Instead, in the early morning hours of Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, two individuals believed to be associated with CWRU Students for Justice in Palestine engaged in glueing additional fliers to Adelbert Hall and the surrounding vicinity," the university said in the letter.
Case Western Reserve University officials declined an interview, but a spokesperson with the university said via email that "due to the family educational rights and privacy act (FERPA), the university doesn't comment on student conduct issues. As with all student organizations, the university follows its student judicial policies and procedures."
Oglesby, who is a senior at the university, said he hopes that the school will reinstate SJP before the end of the semester.
"Through communication with the administration, they are like we are planning on having a verdict for you on the status of SJP by the end of the semester," he said. "That, to me, is not good enough, a simple verdict. My goal is to have us established by the end of the semester."
