University of Pittsburgh students behind last summer’s pro-Palestinian protests face possible sanctions for a December event that allegedly violated university policies.
Student participants of last spring’s pro-Palestine protests may face possible sanctions from the University of Pittsburgh, after refusing to remove signage and flags during a winter event at the university library. The co-presidents of Students for Justice for Palestine, a registered campus organization, say their future at the school is in limbo after uncertain meetings with the Office of Student Conduct Life. The group faced an additional hearing over a Dec. 9, 2024, incident at the library, where they hosted a “pro-Palestinian study-in.” Students for Justice for Palestine already faced disciplinary measures for encampments in April and June that led to standoffs with police and essentially shut down university life for prolonged stretches.
Protests surrounding the war between Israel and Hamas dominated news headlines for much of last spring and summer and led to Congressional hearings and resignations from top higher education administrators from schools across Pennsylvania and the nation. Students for Justice for Palestine continued these protests into December and carried pro-Palestinian flags and signage into non-reservable library spaces. According to campus administrators, they received several complaints from students and parents, and the group was given multiple warnings to remove the signage.
After ending the study-in event on Dec. 9, the students proceeded to ignore warnings from the university, according to Pitt. A co-president of Students for Justice for Palestine, who promoted the event in social media but denied being the official host, said that their protests were not interrupting student life. “The students reassembled back at the library — that’s their right as students of this University to do — and they continued to study peacefully without disrupting University functions, and they remained there until Thursday,” the SJP co-president said. Pitt’s director of the University Library System emailed SJP leaders, informing them that any students who continued to violate library policies would be referred to student conduct officials.
The student conduct hearing for the Dec. 9 – Dec. 12 event happened on Feb. 4, 2025, but SJP co-president’s say they have not heard anything about the possible sanctions. “We’re not placed on any interim measures, so we’re technically still allowed to have events and plan events as we please, until we receive that notice,” they said. “It puts us in a very difficult position, and we have been unable to plan the very large collaborative type events that we have been hoping to do.” SJP says their aim with events had not changed and said, “educating fellow students about how repression of Palestinians, and the occupation of Palestine is something that we as the citizenry of the United States fund and enable.”
Students across the country have continued anti-Israel and pro-Palestine events, even after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal in 2025. Hamas has begun the process of releasing Israeli hostages after their Oct. 7 terrorist attack that killed 1,200 people.
