Palestine Legal to UPenn: Palestine Writes Literature Festival must be allowed to proceed without racist censorship

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Palestine Legal to UPenn: Palestine Writes Literature Festival must be allowed to proceed without racist censorship

On Friday, Palestine Legal wrote the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) urging the university to stand up for freedom of expression and permit the Palestine Writes Literature Festival to go forward, despite calls from Israel lobby groups to cancel the festival. Palestine Legal’s letter notes that the university would be in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should it take action against the festival, which features dozens of Palestinian writers and other luminaries from across the world, including Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, National Book Foundation ‘5 under 35’ awardee Isabella Hammad, Peabody awardee Laila Al-Arian, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and Marc Lamont Hill, named by Ebony as one of the 100 most influential Black leaders in the country.

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Media Roundup: Palestine Legal files federal civil rights complaint against University of Illinois Chicago

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Media Roundup: Palestine Legal files federal civil rights complaint against University of Illinois Chicago

On September 12th, Palestine Legal filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), demanding an investigation into the University of Illinois Chicago’s (UIC) discriminatory treatment of Palestinian students.

Below is a media roundup on the Title VI complaint in outlets including The Electronic Intifada, CBS News Chicago, and Middle East Eye.

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Palestine Legal Files Title VI Complaint Against University of Illinois Chicago for Discriminating Against Palestinian Students at Israel Study Abroad Event

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Palestine Legal Files Title VI Complaint Against University of Illinois Chicago for Discriminating Against Palestinian Students at Israel Study Abroad Event

Palestine Legal filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), demanding an investigation into the University of Illinois Chicago’s (UIC) discriminatory treatment of Palestinian students, including barring Palestinian students from attending a January 2023 informational session on a university sponsored Israel study abroad program and threatening legal action against them for speaking about their experiences of discrimination. 

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Media Roundup: Palestine Legal supports CUNY Law commencement speaker Fatima Mohammed

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Media Roundup: Palestine Legal supports CUNY Law commencement speaker Fatima Mohammed

On June 13th, Palestine Legal wrote a civil rights letter signed by 13 legal groups to the City University of New York (CUNY) to raise serious concerns that the university's statement condemning as “hate speech” the principled remarks by CUNY Law graduate Fatima Mohammed violated state and federal laws.

Below is a media roundup on our support for Fatima Mohammed mentioned in outlets including Jewish Currents, The Daily Beast, Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, and The Forward.

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University of Vermont’s Settlement with Dep’t of Education Refuses to Adopt IHRA Despite Pressure

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University of Vermont’s Settlement with Dep’t of Education Refuses to Adopt IHRA Despite Pressure

In April 2023, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) entered into a resolution agreement with the University of Vermont (UVM) over a Title VI complaint brought by two Israel advocacy groups, the Brandeis Center and Jewish on Campus (JOC), on behalf of anonymous Zionist students.

Anti-Palestinian groups are attempting to use this agreement—which does not mention Zionism or the politicized International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism—to chill speech supporting Palestinian rights by claiming OCR has created a new policy incorporating criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism into anti-discrimination laws. This is false.

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Dept. of Education Opens Investigation into Anti-Palestinian Discrimination at Florida State University

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Dept. of Education Opens Investigation into Anti-Palestinian Discrimination at Florida State University

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has opened a formal investigation into a complaint alleging Florida State University discriminated against Palestinian student Ahmad Daraldik. After Ahmad was elected FSU student senate president in June 2020 and spoke openly about his experiences as a Palestinian, he was made an open target of a state-wide harassment campaign that included Florida state legislators calling for his removal and threatening to withhold funds to FSU.

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Civil Rights Groups Urge CUNY to Retract Anti-Palestinian Statement and Apologize

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Civil Rights Groups Urge CUNY to Retract Anti-Palestinian Statement and Apologize

Palestine Legal and 13 civil rights groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, and Law for Black Lives, wrote the City University of New York (CUNY) today to raise serious concerns that the university’s May 30th Statement condemning as “hate speech” the principled remarks by graduating CUNY Law 3L Fatima Mohammed violated state and federal laws. Published two weeks after Mohammed gave her speech in which she criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, the statement from CUNY’s Board of Trustees and Chancellor contributed to the bullying campaign led by anti-Palestinian groups, politicians, and rightwing media outlets in the wake of Mohammed’s speech, and incited additional online harassment and threats against Mohammed.

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